Showing Out

We’re not ones to usually post commercials, but this is way too awesome not to post. In the above clip, Jigga manages to recreate all of his classic album covers in less than 60 seconds, with a camera capturing the action on a soundstage as a crew helps the rapper change into and out of clothes. This, of course, is in an effort to help promote Jay’s forthcoming album The Blueprint 3, which has already hit the internet weeks ahead of its September 11th release date. But that doesn’t stop us from going to buy it - it shouldn’t stop you, either - especially when he’s the only rapper capable of pulling off a commercial this incredible. Watch, enjoy, etc.

Because we know you’re all wondering what you’ll be able to watch on Black Entertainment Television aside from 106 & Park, we’re going to go ahead and tell you what’s premiering on the network this fall. According to a press release, BET has seven new shows coming to the network this September and October, some of which we’ve reported about and others that are new to the fold. Of the shows we’ve discussed on the site, Tyrese Gibson’s First In and Mo’Nique’s The Mo’Nique Show will debut as planned, with the former premiering on September 30th at 10 PM and the latter gracing the channel on October 5th at 11 PM. Other notables include Monica: Still Standing, a docu-drama that follows the singer’s career beginning on October 27th at 10 PM; Heart of the City, which takes a harsh look at African-American communities afflicted by poverty and crime starting on September 12th at 10 PM; Mario Van Peebles’ Bring Your ‘A’ Game, a documentary debuting on September 12th at 9 PM; Kim Coles’ Pay It Off, which premieres on October 2nd at 10 PM; and Pressure Cooker, a reality cooking show that drops on September 12th at 6:30 PM. That’s a lot to take in, but hopefully, it will inspire you to actually check out the channel - it seems like they’re actually trying this season.

No, we’re not talking about the actual award winners of last night’s ceremony. According to THR, the ratings for the Daytime Emmys have hit an all-time low, making its first broadcast off the Big Three networks on the CW. The ceremony only managed to draw 2.3 million viewers during the broadcast, down 50% from when it aired last year on ABC. This doesn’t really come as a surprise for the show, which CBS dropped out of the deal with the award show after it already hit lows in 2006 and 2008. Analysts speculate that the reason that it did so poorly was because Sunday Night Football managed to dominate viewers for most of the evening, with many of them turning to the Daytime Emmys only after the game was petering out. So on the plus side, that works for the Daytime Emmy Awards - but with this kind of news, we wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t even make it onto television next year.

Disappointed with the Avatar trailer? So is Hitler. Or, at least, according to this viral sensation that’s racked up over 150,000 views on YouTube, taking footage from Der Untergang where the evil Nazi leader learns that his empire is crumbling. In the above clip, Hitler loses his cool when his informants disclose that the Avatar trailer looks like a “glossed-up version of Land Before Time 3,” which gets a full page of points in our book of scorecards. Consider this the sequel to that classic clip where Hitler finds out Michael Jackson died. Damn, Hitler gets pissed off easily! And you think Hitler gets really pissed just by hearing about the fact that Avatar’s trailer blows? Just wait until he sees it.

You would think that after H2: Halloween 2 plopped down at the box office this weekend at number 3, the Weinstein Company would know better than to keep this franchise alive. But instead of falling back and letting Michael Myers become a distant memory, the production company already has their sights set on another installment of the film, this time taking a note from recently released competitor The Final Destination and filming the next one in 3-D. And while they put their faith in Rob Zombie to keep this franchise from death, they’re dumping him off the bandwagon and opting for another director that they’ve declined to name as of press time. Halloween 3D is expected to hit theaters next summer, which makes us think that not only is this too soon, but that they really haven’t thought this one through. Looks like they’re just gassed from the success of Inglourious Basterds.

Oh good, we were worried that Sylvester Stallone would let this franchise die. According to Variety, Stallone is currently in the process of putting together the foundation for the fifth installment of Rambo, with plans for the acting vet to direct and star in the flick. Rambo 5, which begins production in Spring, apparently already has a written script, which focuses on Rambo as he fights through drug kingpins and traffickers to help a girl that’s been kidnapped at the U.S.-Mexico divide. This follows 2008’s Rambo, which saw Stallone picking back up the franchise and greeted with $42 mil in domestic and $113 mil in international tix sales. The only thing we’re left wondering is how long Stallone’s body will fare getting pumped up yet again to play John Rambo. Isn’t dude like, 70?

This is kinda like a big deal, in case you haven’t yet heard the news. Earlier this morning, Walt Disney Company announced that it was purchasing Marvel Entertainment for the astronomical price of $4 billion, with 60% of the dough being ponied over in cash (we assume not in briefcases) and 40% in stock options. This means that Disney will now own the rights to a huge stable of comic book staples, including X-Men, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor. As for all those lucrative deals that Marvel has with studios to produce film adaptations, those will stay in place, but Disney will now be spreading out Marvel characters into various properties, including rides and attractions at amusement parks that are based on those superheroes. These are pretty much the basics of the deal - the details are intense - but basically, this means that Marvel Studios and their properties are going to be unavoidable from here on out. So get ready.

This weekend, we ventured to see The Final Destination, which ended up being this weekend’s winner at the box office. Was it worth it? Absolutely not, but we still enjoyed the ridiculous, creative ways that they killed off characters. And apparently, so did the rest of America, with the fourth installment of the franchise raking in $28.3 million on 3,121 screens. Meanwhile, that other horror movie H2: Halloween 2 didn’t do as well as its competitor, with the Rob Zombie-directed flick earning a lukewarm $17.4 mil on 3,025 screens. And on top of that, it didn’t even manage to debut at number 2, with Inglourious Basterds nabbing the spot with $20 mil - and occupying the space where H2 would have liked to have dropped. Ouchers. The only other debut of note is Taking Woodstock, the Demetri Martin vehicle that only earned $3.75 mil on 1,393 screens. Not a great weekend for the box office, and not necessarily one for movies of substance, either. Even so, we still enjoyed those horrifying death scenes in The Final Destination. Just be warned, they’re gross.

And here comes the second video off of Drake’s internet hit mixtape So Far Gone. Not much action in the clip for “Successful,” but it sure does look cinematic, with shadows lingering over each of the singers’ faces as they rap/croon about wanting to make a living. In the clip, Drake and Songz take turns standing on the roof of a building with a killer view of a city, later hopping in the whip to cruise around town in tandem. But what’s this we see? Drake is completely mobile following the legendary stage-fall and subsequent ACL collapse? Looks like he got some pretty good doctors to take care of that bad boy. Dare we say, he’s - ahem - successful enough to hire them? Sorry, had to slip that in somewhere. Enjoy.

Shucks, just when we thought that Skank Robbers was really coming soon, here comes the announcement that Bad Boys 3 is next on the docket. According to THR, the third installment of the Bad Boys franchise is reportedly in the works, with Columbia Pictures enlisting Peter Craig to pen a treatment for the action flick. The only catch here is that Columbia is banking on Craig to write a script so mouthwatering and tantalizing that it will draw back director Michael Bay, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence to the franchise - because none of them have signed on to take part in the film. But according to the report, all parties are interested in returning if the money’s right, which actually might be a problem considering how much cash these guys have earned in the past few years (OK, so Lawrence is a bit lagging, but we’ll cut him some slack). Hopefully, this will give Lawrence enough time to hammer out Skank Robbers. Because honestly, that’s the only thing we’re interested in seeing in theaters anytime soon.