Category Archives: Pop Culture

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Tribeca Festival 2025 To Open with “Billy Joel: And So It Goes” Documentary at Beacon Theatre

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The Press Release:
The 2025 Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, today unveiled its opening night film, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, an HBO original two-part documentary, announced by Jane Rosenthal, Co-Founder and CEO of Tribeca Festival and Tribeca Enterprises, on stage at NAB Show’s Business of Entertainment event, in partnership with The Ankler. The 2025 Tribeca Festival Opening Night is presented by OKX and City National Bank.

“For nearly 25 years, the Tribeca Festival has celebrated the artists who give New York its heart and soul, and on the opening night of the 2025 Festival, we are thrilled to honor Billy Joel—an artist who has embodied that very spirit,” said Rosenthal. “Paying tribute to the legendary performer who captured the essence of a ‘New York State of Mind’ is a perfect way to kick off this year’s celebration of creativity and inspiration.”

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This year’s Tribeca Festival, scheduled to run June 4-15 in New York City, will feature curated lineups across film, music, TV, audio storytelling, talks, games, and immersive programming. From independent narratives showcasing emerging filmmakers and talent to a music lineup like never before, the annual festival continues to highlight groundbreaking stories that unite communities and fans globally.

The 2025 Tribeca Festival kicks off Wednesday, June 4 with the world premiere of Billy Joel: And So It Goes at the Beacon Theatre. The HBO original two-part documentary is an expansive portrait of the life and music of Billy Joel, exploring the love, loss, and personal struggles that fuel his songwriting. With unprecedented access to never-before-seen performances, home movies, and personal photographs, along with extensive, in-depth one-on-one interviews, the documentary intimately explores the life and work of Joel, whose music has endured across generations.

“I and my co-director, Jessica Levin, couldn’t be more thrilled about our film Billy Joel: And So It Goes opening the esteemed Tribeca Festival. Our thanks go out to Jane Rosenthal and the Festival team and to HBO and the wonderful folks there who have supported us throughout in our efforts to bring an in-depth, honest, and musically expressive portrait of this complex talent,” said director and producer Susan Lacy. “We are beyond appreciative of Billy Joel’s trust in us to bring his story to the screen. There is no better place for this film to premiere than at the Beacon Theatre, the venue for so many historic musical events for decades, and in the city so important to Billy Joel.”

The documentary, directed and produced by Emmy® winners Susan Lacy (HBO’s “Jane Fonda in Five Acts” and “Spielberg”) and Jessica Levin (HBO’s “The Janes” and “Jane Fonda in Five Acts”), will debut on HBO and will be available to stream on Max this summer following its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival.

The full festival lineup will be announced soon. For more updates on programming follow @Tribeca and #Tribeca2025 on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube. A Tribeca Membership or 2025 Tribeca Festival passes and ticket packages can be purchased at tribecafilm.com.

ABOUT THE TRIBECA FESTIVAL
The Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, brings artists and diverse audiences together to celebrate storytelling in all its forms, including film, TV, music, audio storytelling, games, and immersive. With strong roots in independent film, Tribeca is synonymous with creative expression and entertainment. Tribeca champions emerging and established voices, discovers award-winning talent, curates innovative experiences, and introduces new ideas through exclusive premieres, exhibitions, conversations, and live performances.

The Festival was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in 2001 to spur the economic and cultural revitalization of lower Manhattan following the attacks on the World Trade Center. The annual Tribeca Festival will celebrate its 24th year from June 4–15, 2025 in New York City.

In 2019, James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems bought a majority stake in Tribeca Enterprises, bringing together Rosenthal, De Niro, and Murdoch to grow the enterprise.

ABOUT THE 2025 TRIBECA FESTIVAL PARTNERS:
The 2025 Tribeca Festival is presented by OKX and with the support of our partners: AT&T, Audible, Bulleit Frontier Whiskey, Canva, CHANEL, City National Bank, Don Julio Tequila, Indeed, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, NBC4 and Telemundo 47, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, National CineMedia, New York Magazine, Spring Studios New York, The Wall Street Journal, Variety, Vulture, and Whalar.

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Piercing Ken Thoughts: This surely sounds interesting and I cannot wait to see the documentary when it premieres on HBO because while I’m quite the Metalhead, I do love a lot of the Billy Joel catalog. Oh wait, I forgot that I no longer subscribe to the actual HBO channel and only use the Max streaming service so I have to hope that it will be there as well. I will most likely not be in town when this years festival runs but I can tell the curious out there that it really is something else. I attended in person once a few years ago and then virtually a couple of times, the latter of which was not too appealing for me as a media adventurer. I just love being in the thick of things.

Official: https://www.tribecafilm.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tribecafestival

Now Playing: Walt Disney Studios “Snow White” (3/21/2025)

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While I am a tad surprised that a release such as Disney’s “Snow White” didn’t seem to merit a second or even final trailer before its release day today, that is how it panned out. If you’ve been following the reports on the giant entertainment news feeds you already know that its not arrived without some controversary but that being said Disney’s “Snow White”, the live-action retelling of the classic firm has opened in theaters everywhere. Down below you’ll find the basic premise, official art and some expanded casting. If you somehow missed our post about the Official Trailer just click the hyperlinked text to see that first. Enjoy.

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Premise: A princess joins forces with seven dwarfs to liberate her kingdom from her cruel stepmother the Evil Queen. A live-action adaptation of the 1937 Disney animated film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’. (C/O imdb)
Continue reading Now Playing: Walt Disney Studios “Snow White” (3/21/2025)

Presenting The 97th Academy Awards Nominations

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The nominations for the 97th Academy Awards have just been announced and while we didn’t watch the live feed, we share the full rundown after collecting it from assorted resources. Comedian and podcaster Conan O’Brien will be the host for the very first time. Let’s have a look.

Best Picture
Anora – Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, producers
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown – Fred Berger, James Mangold and Alex Heineman, producers
Conclave – Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell and Michael Jackman
Dune: Part Two – Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe and Denis Villeneuve, producers
Emilia Pérez
I’m Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked – Marc Platt, producer

Best Director
Sean Baker – Anora
Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
James Mangold – A Complete Unknown
Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
Continue reading Presenting The 97th Academy Awards Nominations

Presenting The 82nd Golden Globe Awards Winners

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Last night, winners of the 82nd Golden Globe Awards were revealed in a celebrity loaded ceremony by comedian Nikki Glaser. Though I had planned to watch the proceedings and do some kind of live reveal via the “X” social media account I have, I had other things to do with the time and find myself presenting the full winners list rundown and their categories for you down below. For this narrative I’ve also left the other nominations so you could compare and find them fueling your argument about who you felt should have won if you were unhappy with the decision.

82nd Golden Globes Winners: FILM

Best Motion Picture — Drama
WINNER – “The Brutalist”
“A Complete Unknown”
“Conclave”
“Dune: Part Two”
“Nickel Boys”
“September 5”

Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy
“Anora”
“Challengers”
WINNER – “Emilia Pérez”
“A Real Pain”
“The Substance”
“Wicked”

Best Motion Picture — Animated
WINNER – “Flow”
“Inside Out 2”
“Memoir of a Snail”
“Moana 2”
“Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”
“The Wild Robot”
Continue reading Presenting The 82nd Golden Globe Awards Winners

Rundown Of “The Odd Couple” New Year’s Eve/Day Marathon On WLNY 55 (12/31/2024-1/1/2025)

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“On November 13, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. That request came from his wife. Deep down, he knew she was right. But he also knew that, someday, he would return to her. With nowhere else to go, he appeared at the home of his childhood friend, Oscar Madison. Sometime earlier, Madison’s wife had thrown him out, requesting that he never return. Can two divorced men share an apartment, without driving each other crazy?”

the odd couple, jack flugman, tony randall

Such began the proceedings for the 1970 comedy series “The Odd Couple” which was an adaptation of the hit play by the legendary Neil Simon. While the play featured Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, the show starred Tony Randall and Jack Klugman as Felix Unger and Oscar Madison respectively. It ran for five seasons and some “114” episodes when all was said and done. It’s a favorite for many and while I also enjoyed the show, I cannot claim any level of dedication to it. It’s the kind of thing I would love to one day binge from start to finish which leads me to this particular post. Once I learned that WLNY was going to be doing a fairly comprehensive marathon I decided to add it. As my inclusion of this marathon was a bit of a last minute decision I mostly used their own network website as a reference. So please if there are any inconsistencies I direct you to their side of the fence and not mine. I have never included this show to my usual yearly rundowns of “The Honeymooners” and “The Twilight Zone” (the latter program being posted on PiercingMetal since it fits best there) but since it had so many episodes I felt that it might make for some good Google traffic and with this being the end of the year it will be nice to get some surges for the website. Now without any further adieu please take a look at the marathon that will begin later on tonight. If you plan on programming this onto the DVR you should start doing that now to get it out of the way.

Tuesday, December 31st:
9:00PM – The Laundry Orgy
9:30PM – Felix Gets Sick
10:00PM – The Jury Story
10:30PM – The Breakup
11:00PM – It’s All Over Now, Baby Bird
11:30PM – Felix Is Missing
Continue reading Rundown Of “The Odd Couple” New Year’s Eve/Day Marathon On WLNY 55 (12/31/2024-1/1/2025)