5. The Office (NBC)

There was little fate in this show from the beginning, since executives and devout fans of the original British show doubted that a U.S. version would work. Yet it exploded, in both ratings and critical acclaim, cemented Steve Carrell’s status as a comic legend and jumpstarted the careers of John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer. The awkward situations of the show feel real and uncomfortable and work perfectly to soften you up until a great scene or punchline hits. The characters are all memorable and it’s impressive how funny a simple workplace can be. It’s a shame the show will be departing this year, but it has left behind two notable legacies. One, the opening song will always be known as The Office theme song, and two, no mother will ever name her son Dwight ever again.

4. Fringe (FOX)

Easily the strangest and most ambitious show on this list, Fringe is a Boston-based detective show that deals with parallel universes. That alone makes one wonder, why did Fox, the king of canceling creative shows, pick this up in the first place? Did they plan on canceling it in the future? Did one of the executives lose a bet? Anyways, the complex narrative pushed away casual users and the show focused its efforts on its niche audience, which is kind of endearing when you think about it. Those of us who watched the show could see that the show wasn’t pandering to the masses but instead rewarding the viewers who stuck around with extra twists and turns in the various plots. It’s nice to see a show takes it audience seriously, even if it results in the show getting the chop, so to speak.

3. Dirty Jobs (Discovery Channel)

There are two types of reality TV programming: those that teach you something interesting, and those that serve as mindless time filler. Dirty Jobs is the former, displaying in minute detail the struggles of unfortunate yet necessary professions from all over. If nothing else, every time you complain about your job on one of those slow Mondays, this show will shut you up.

2. 30 Rock (NBC)

Tina Fey. Alec Baldwin. Tracy Morgan. Not sure I have to say more. Poor ratings were a consistent problem with this show, which is interesting since it was practically drowning in Emmys. What this show does best, better than anything else on this list, is mixing different comedic styles and somehow making it work. Tina Fey is witty and anxious, Alec Baldwin is dry and egotistical, and Tracy Morgan is loud and ridiculous. It all gels together, and along with a strong supporting cast and setting, 30 Rock will always be known as one of those great shows that people simply didn’t watch enough. Like King of the Hill, but not about rednecks.

1. Futurama (FOX)

Despite begging from niche fans, despite revivals and other experiments, Futurama is officially closing its curtains this year. Part sci-fi part situational comedy, Futurama is weird, wild, and ultimately hilarious. It boasts some of the best voice acting ever, (I dare anyone to actually pull off a Zoidberg impression) and its jokes about future technology always seem fresh and inventive. Also, Bender is a riot. Seriously, can we find a way to build and mass market him as an affordable wingman for guys? Without Futurama and with The Simpsons stinking as it has been since season 13, we have only Family Guy to turn to for our animated comedy. At least, until they animate Arrested Development. Dibs!

Why the quick departure after a single season? Although no official announcement has been made, Nicki is ready to focus on touring, endorsement deals, and is also prepping to release another album, according to a source close to the rapper.

If Minaj drops out of the next season of Idol, she will join the only remaining original judge, Randy Jackson, as non-returning cast members for the 13th season of “Idol.” Season 12 judges Mariah Carey and Keith Urban have not made any announcements on whether or not they’ll return as judges, though according to Rolling Stone, they’re not expected to stay on board for another year.

Who should “Idol” bring on to judge next? Tell us who you’d like to see take on the job in the comments below!

But that doesn’t mean everyone listens to it. Maybe you never quite got on board because of your love of metal, punk, country or even classical. Maybe it’s just noise to you. Or maybe you simply don’t know where to start. So before you download a random album and hope it’s decent, here are the five quintessential electronica albums to bring you into the fray.

5. Velocifero (2008) by Ladytron

- While this popular album by the England group Ladytron is certainly electronic, with all its synthesizers and effects, it could constitute a rock album as well. The choruses are catchy, there are guitar tracks here and there, and most of all the tunes are LOUD. Every track is laden heavily with distortion and this along with the echoing vocals you feel as if Ladytron is playing in their garage or a noisy rock concert. So what you have here is a boisterous hard rock/electronica album, and it’s probably the best mix of the two out there. Certain tracks are repetitive when they need to be (“Runaway”), while others slowly escalate to fantastic, dark endings (“Predict the Day”). From the opening track’s elongated intro to the infectious chorus of “Ghosts,” this album has all the pop sensibilities and structure of rock yet keeps the electronica effects, synths, and repetition fully intact.

- Best Song: “Black Cat”

4. Lindsey Stirling (2012) by Lindsey Stirling

- This is the most recent album on this list, and you can tell its modernity by listening to it and catching the obvious dubstep influence. However, this album beats every other dubstep album out there because it takes the genre in a completely new and, in this writer’s opinion, better direction. Stirling is a classical violinist, and rather than focus her tracks on the dubstep rhythms and noise, she puts it in the background and lays beautiful, soaring violin melodies on top. The result is an impressive and consistently entertaining combination of classical and electronic. Most of the songs have a very epic feel to them, which makes sense since Lindsey Stirling did an infamous cover of the theme song from Skyrim. This album is fast, fun, and a perfect soundtrack to which to work out at the gym.

- Best Song: “Crystallize”

3. Talkie Walkie (2004) by Air

- On the softer side of things comes Talkie Walkie by Air, a gorgeous sounding and impeccably constructed outing by the electronic French duo. This album is ten tracks long and each one has its own function in the album and offers some completely new to the listening experience. Absolutely nothing is out of place, and the track listing is perfect. It’s obvious Air spent a long time deciding what track goes where, and you really need to listen to it from start to finish. The songs themselves are mostly pleasant and serene, quickly relaxing the listener and pulling them into a kind of peaceful dream world. This is not an exaggeration. From the love struck lyrics of “Venus” to the somewhat somber “Alone in Kyoto,” this album is like hypnosis to the ears. That isn’t to say the album is boring either. A wild mix of instruments makes an appearance here, including guitars, banjos, flutes, keyboards, and a variety of synth effects. Tracks like “Alpha Beta Gaga” pump adrenaline into the album when it’s needed, and if you’re a musician you’ll enjoy it even more since every melody from every instrument is meticulously added and beautifully played. Listening to this album is like listening to a manual on good song construction.

- Best Song: “Alpha Beta Gaga”

2. Ratatat (2004) by Ratatat

- The follow up album (Classics) to this debut by the New York duo is also excellent and worth a listen, but Ratatat is a must-have for anyone wanting to get some electronica into their musical library due its unforgettable nature. It is fully instrumental minus a few random speaking parts between songs, yet despite having no lyrics each song carries a great deal of emotional power. Here’s how many of the tracks go: start with a simple beat, then add this melody, then add that melody, and then keep adding until you have a nice, full song going, and then add sorrowful yet pretty melody on top of everything that will stick in your head for days. In this regard, Ratatat shares many traits with classical music. Some tracks are intense, some are fun, some will make you want to dance while others while make you think hard about your life or present surroundings. It’s stunning how Ratatat can make one feel so much without saying anything, and the way each song escalates to a rousing finish can make even a cynic’s heart soften a bit. Every individual I’ve introduced Ratatat to has personally thanked me, and to quote one of them, “this music will change your life.”

- Best Song: “Desert Eagle”

1. Discovery (2001) by Daft Punk

- Even if you’re new to electronica, you need this band would show up. From “Tron: Legacy” soundtrack that carried the movie to the great, head-banging arm-raising remix bonanza that was their live album, Daft Punk is like the King Midas of music: everything they touch turns to gold. Yet out of all their work, Discovery stands as king of electronica for two reasons. First, it helped bring house techno of the 90’s into rock and pop, which more hardcore fans may have complained about if it were not for reason two; the album is awesome. There is plenty of techno beats (“Superheroes”) to satisfy previous fans, yet where Discovery truly soars is in the pop and instrumental tracks. “One More Time” and “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” are obvious, crowd-pleasing classics, and as great as they are, what’s more impressive is how Discovery keeps the good vibes and musicianship going throughout the album. Many albums fall in the track 9-12 range, with many of the songs feeling like leftover filler, yet here we have the funky “Voyager” with its badass bass line, the soft, organ-infused “Veridis Quo” and probably my favorite love song of all time, “Something About Us.” Even the last, 14-minute track is a great song to drive to. There’s something here for everybody, electronica lovers or not, and if you are interested in getting into this genre of music, then Discovery is the perfect place to start. Get in your car, roll the windows down, hit the highway, blast this album and thank me later.

- Best Track: “Something About Us”

It’s mostly harmless, except for the fact that once the hipster culture has chosen something to envelop, to make one of their own, it becomes such a vital part of their culture that it is associated entirely with hipsters. To an optimist’s eye, they have simply adopted or cherished it. To a cynic’s, they have stolen it.

Which brings me to PBR. This is going to be a bit personal for me since I think PBR is the best cheap, trashy beer you can find. Since it’s light and doesn’t taste like tepid garbage water, it is the perfect beer for drinking games, camping, or a casual drink after physical labor. It was a man drink: popular in the Deep South or New Mexico where men drank it after a hard day of construction or hunting, swigging it from their porch chairs.

So why did hipsters take it? They’re not day laborers; they’re photographers and musicians with obnoxious facial hair and skinny jeans. The answer is the same reason they latch onto things like American Spirit or Converse sneakers: they are enamored with the old, rare, and obscure. And so they took PBR, the sweat-of-the-man’s-brow beer, and brought it to indie music clubs and poetry sessions. Because it’s obscure and odd.

Now PBR is permanently a hipster beer, and the simple fact of the matter is that there are many other beers hipsters could have and should have taken instead. Here are five.

5. Pacifico

The Beer: A Mexican pilsner, Pacifico is essentially a slightly different, lesser known Corona. It’s tasty and sold in every Mexican restaurant, and it’s one of those beers that are on many menus and many taps yet you rarely order it. It’s there to be there.
Why Hipsters Should Take It: It’s almost-not-quite popularity makes it ideal for hipsters. You see it in many establishments but rarely in people’s hands. Holding one could make one feel original. It’s just obscure for Hipsters to fall in love with, yet easy enough to find so they don’t have to put in the effort to get it. Perfect.

4. Midas Touch

The Beer: A delicious golden ale infused with honey and saffron. Crafted by Dogfish Head, it is one of the lesser known beers, difficult to find, and comes in four packs instead of six.
Why Hipsters Should Take It: Four packs instead of six? Quirky…!

3. Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat

The Beer: a fruity wheat beer with artificial flavoring. It’s light, meh-tasting, and hard to find outside of a liquor store.
Why Hipsters Should Take It: It tastes exactly like Fruity Pebbles cereal. Seriously, try it. There are forums about this. And what better way for a hipster to strike up a conversation? They could swill the beer around like wine, take a sip, and say something pompous like, “Fred Flintstone called, and he wants his breakfast back.”

2. Shiner Bock

The Beer: An amber beer brewed entirely in Shiner, Texas. Smooth and tasty, it is one of the most popular beers in Texas.
Why Hipsters Should Take It: If hipsters are good at anything, it’s taking something beloved and making it their own. Shiner Bock is THE Texan beer, its taste and packaging so American you can easily imagine a cowboy drinking it. Pretentious twenty-year olds watching Juno are practically the opposite of rugged Texans drinking Bock. The irony is too much to pass up.

1. Natty Bo (Natural Bohemian)

The Beer: cheap and almost tasteless, this beer is easy to find and extremely popular in Baltimore. It is estimated that when the Ravens won the recent Super Bowl there were enough empty cans of these to choke a blue whale.
Why Hipsters Should Take It: It’s essentially PBR in quality and availability, so the transition for them would be easy. Yet Natty Bo gets the number one slot because of how intensely it is loved by its specific fan base. Shiner Bock is infamous in Texas but Natty Bo is a staple in just one city: Baltimore. This is the definition of a niche beer. Although this beer is sold everywhere in the states, it’s not a common sight to see anyone drinking this outside of Baltimore or at least Maryland.

As you can probably tell from the bitterness of this article, I believe that hipsters are only eclipsed by George Lucas in the art of ruining things, and nothing could get Baltimore in a bigger stir than seeing hipsters drink their beer. It is an ideal chance for a hipster to feel cultured as well, much like how people return from South Africa donning forty beaded necklaces or wear Hawaiian shirts in Hawaii. Baltimore and cities like LA are worlds apart and a western hipster drinking a beloved Baltimore beer in order to feel and appear well-traveled is pretty much the entire hipster movement in a nutshell. For this reason, Natty Bo should be the new hipster beer. I’ll probably get death threats from some of my friends (Ravens fans) for this, but it’s worth it just so I can drink a PBR again in peace.

**Note: Critics’ quotes are taken from RottenTomatoes

The Best Video Game Movies Of All Time

3. Silent Hill (2006)

Writing a “Best Of”  list is much harder than a “Worst Of,” for obvious reasons. Third place goes to the confusing yet gripping Silent Hill. The entire point of the original game was about isolation, fear, and personal trauma, and while the script tries its very best to fail in each one of these themes, the haunting images alone get the job done. The cinematography is gorgeously creepy, the creatures are well animated, and there are several intense scenes that will have you digging your nails into the couch cushions. Although critics mostly dismissed the film, calling it “incoherent” (Lou Lumenick) or “shoddy” (Jason Anderson), practically all of them have praised the stark visuals. For a video game movie, that’ a good start.

2. Mortal Kombat (1995)

It’s the nineties, and whether you’re blowing the omnipresent dust off your Super Nintendo or blowing all your spare charge at the arcade, you love fighting games. Fighting games fit so perfectly for the nineties because they are both all about bright colors, cheesiness, and carefree fun. The reason this film works as an adaptation is the same reason why most video game movies these days don’t: you can’t take a cheesy game and make it gritty and realistic. It doesn’t work, and Mortal Kombat does not even try to. This movie fully envelops itself in the world of the video game, giving us all the colorful characters we want and never taking itself too seriously. One liners, cheap special effects, fast pacing and faithfulness to the source material all gave gamers and non-gamers alike something short and fun to enjoy. For being exactly what it needed to be, Mortal Kombat takes the silver medal.

1. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010)

Granted, this is not technically derived from a video game (actually from a graphic novel series) but that doesn’t matter. In my opinion, this is a video game movie. The plot is like any fighting game as the protagonist ascends levels and beats up bad guys, the visual style is flashy and fun, and there are even checkpoint sounds like in a real game. The laws of reality is bent, broken, and tossed in the trash. So there, it’s a video game movie, and a damn good one at that. The characters are larger than life and there are hysterical performances from Kieran Culkin, Brandon Routh, and Chris ‘Captain America’ Evans. The visuals are stunning, the script is sharp, and the film manages to combine video games, kung fu, rock music, relationship drama, hipster comedy, and comic books into one package. As Tom Charity from CNN writes, “Full of fresh, sharp touches and nonchalantly brash performances, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World consistently hits the sweet spot.” For consistent entertainment in both the script and action, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World takes the cake.

The Worst Video Game Movies Of All Time

3. Super Mario Bros. (1993)

This movie almost falls in the same category as Mortal Kombat in the sense that it’s silly fun reminiscent of that decade. But explanations and excuses are not always the same, and this movie is just too ridiculous to swallow. When making a video game movie, you can either stay faithful to the source to appease the fans, focus on making something different to appease critics, or somehow do both. This film does neither. It turned turtles into dinosaurs, a whimsical video game world into a poorly lit warehouse, and Dennis Hopper’s career into a joke, at least temporarily. No amount of drugs can get you to understand what is going on in this film.

2. Alone in the Dark (2005)

I’m going to go straight to the critics for this one.

“A violent and incomprehensible piece of gibberish.” (Rex Reed)

“There’s nothing even remotely entertaining about this film.” (Ethan Alter)

“Anyone who chooses to watch this film will probably be alone in the dark as most theaters will be empty.” (Jackie K. Cooper)

“Dreadful.” (Tom Keogh)

“This is pretty close to one of the worse movies that I’ve ever seen and having to recap it is making my brain bleed.” (Kamal ‘The Diva’ Larsuel)

Enough said.

1. Max Payne (2008)

Out of all the bad video game movies (and thanks to director Uwe Boll, there are many) Max Payne is the one that could have saved itself. It’s based on a dark video game about revenge, shooting, and slow motion. How do you mess that up? Instead we get a revenge film that is as incomprehensible as virus coding, boring as watching grass grow, pointless as Philosophy 101, and more poorly edited than a Michael Bay flick. Marky Mark looks like he’s shaking off a tequila hangover during the entire movie, Mila Kunis pops in and out of the film faster than a prairie dog, and they even cast Ludacris as a police detective. The script feels like was drunkenly written in an hour on bar napkins, and there is not a single scene that stands out in any way. For blowing a golden opportunity, Max Payne gets the gold for the worst video game movie of all time.

In conclusion, the question remains; despite there being a few good entries, can a truly great video game movie be made, and could this be a more consistent, rather than rare trend? Unfortunately I’m not very optimistic if things continue the way they are now. The entire genre needs a big boost of energy, a reboot so to speak. We need that one fantastic video game movie done by a famous and respected director with a script and casting to match, and this could set the bar. So if no one’s doing anything next weekend, I say we locate Steven Spielberg and get him to play some Halo with us.

Lil Wayne has been a commercial staple for Mountain Dew for the past year, as advertisements featuring the rapper began running in early 2012. But PepsiCo made the choice to cut the cord to it’s relationship with Wayne due to a song lyric containing a vulgar reference to the beating to Emmett Till, a young boy who died after to a violent attack in the 1950′s. This horrific occurrence became a significant event in the American civil rights movement, and is still widely discussed and relevant today.

PepsiCo released a statement saying Wayne’s “offensive reference to a revered civil rights icon does not reflect the values of our brand.” There is no word on when the moratorium on Lil Wayne Mountain Dew ads will begin, or how long it will last.

Lil Wayne’s publicist, Sarah Cunningham is describing the split with PepsiCo as a decision spawned from “creative differences” but the rapper’s creative expression has offended more than just the heads at PepsiCo. According to TMZ, the rapper sent a letter to Till’s family, but they did not accept, saying the letter failed “short of an apology.”

Was Weezy out of line? Check out the song below and tell us what you think.

QuickTrim is a weight loss supplement intended to help you loose love handles via pill. Basically just another false promise geared towards lazy, gullible idiots who believe that, without much effort, they can look like their favorite celebrities. Endorsing a perfume or toothpaste is one thing, but endorsing something that actually changes the way you digest is an actual health matter. Why on earth does Kim think it’s ok to make medical decisions (yes, I’m saying endorsing medication is a medical decision) without the proper degree? And worse, why does anyone out there think that Kim is a worthy representative of a medication at all?

I know she’s famous and I know people watch her show and that’s fine. But people need to step back and remember that Kim got famous through a sex tape, and a highly publicized failed marriage. She should be the last person giving us medical advice, well maybe other than Keith Richards. The problem with this type of celebrity endorsement is that Kim Kardashian has time and money for trainers, chefs, and people who can help her easily maintain healthy habits. Simply put, she can afford a great body. Celebrities and the average person are on two different planets in many ways, and fitness and diet is definitely one of them.