Remember Teddy Geiger?
(2003)
Via emimusic YouTube
(2003)
Via 50CentVEVO YouTube
(2006)
Via PeterBjornJohnVEVO YouTube
(2001)
Via JimmyEatWorldVEVO YouTube
Watch the live stream online. And don’t tell other people how to live.
The Rosa Khutor Alpine Skiing mountain resort in Sochi.
Leonhard Foeger / Reuters / Reuters
NBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, begins tomorrow with a tape-delayed broadcast of the preliminary rounds of snowboarding, freestyle skiing, and figure skating.
Soon after, complaints will start to show up on social media from a small but very vocal minority of people about NBC's failure to understand the internet, and its greed in saving these events for primetime, when it can sell the priciest advertising. These people may even revive the now infamous #NBCfail hashtag that went so viral during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. They will probably get a lot of media attention.
But this complaint makes almost no sense, and we should stop taking the complainers seriously. They don't actually have a problem with the availability of the Olympics, which they can watch live online; they have a problem with people who still watch television in the incipient digital age.
Despite Sochi's being nine hours ahead of New York, most of NBC's 500 hours of TV programming will air live across its suite of cable networks, which includes NBC Sports Network, CNBC, MSNBC, and USA Network. For the first time ever, every phase of all 15 events will be available for live streaming via NBCOlympics.com or the NBC Sports Live Extra mobile app for authenticated cable subscribers. The only part of the Olympics that won't be available in some form live will be the opening ceremonies, which will air in primetime on Friday evening.
"We think it's very important that we package that event with all the Russian culture and history that's being creatively expressed, much of that program might not make sense to viewers without the context that Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira are going to bring to that," said NBC Sports Group Chairman Mark Lazarus. "We think it's very important that we do that, and it's the right model. It worked for us in London, and it's going to work for us again."
(There is one small catch: while most full-event replays and highlights will be available on demand immediately following their conclusion, some will only be available towards the end of the competition day, around 3:30 pm ET, and highlights will not be available on demand until the event is shown to NBC's primetime TV viewers.)
Snowboarder Mark McMorris of Canada.
Mike Blake / Reuters
The basic complaint with NBC is that the company, while adjusting to the digital age with its live streams, is also trying to run a business. And in fact, there are a number of reasons why NBC airs Olympics coverage on tape delay during primetime — not just for these games, but for past and future ones as well — among them the time difference, the return on investment, and availability to hardcore fans to stream events live with a verified cable subscription. The main one is that its large television audience seems to appreciate it.
NBC's business logic is rather straightforward: this isn't a charity. Neither, for that matter, are the Games, despite the International Olympic Committee's public line that it is a high-minded sort of parallel government body. The reality is that both entities, for better or worse, are in this for the money.
Once critics have realized they can stream the Olympics, their chief gripe is that by requiring a cable subscription to stream events live, NBC is taking advantage of those who lack one by depriving them of the chance to watch in real time either digitally or on its cable networks and forcing them to watch the tape-delayed primetime broadcast. They argue that since broadcast networks are supposed to be freely available and the Olympics are a global bonding experience, NBC is being particularly evil for not airing live programming around the clock on its main network.
The answer to that is in the numbers. In 2011, after being acquired by Comcast, NBC agreed to pay $4.38 billion for the U.S. rights to broadcast the Olympics beginning with Sochi this year and continuing through the 2020 games. Prior to that, the network paid $2 billion for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and the 2012 London Summer Games, or a combined $6.38 billion for a decade's worth of Olympics coverage. Yet, NBC lost more than $200 million on the Vancouver Olympics and only turned a small profit on the London Games. (The network has sold around $800 million in advertising for Sochi and expects to again turn a small profit this time around.)
More important, NBC went from expecting a roughly $200 million loss of the London Olympics to turning a small profit not because people suddenly signed up for pay-TV service en mass to watch them, but because massive numbers of viewers tuned in for its tape-delayed primetime broadcasts. Despite the seemingly apparent displeasure with tape delays, the London Games ended up averaging 31 million viewers per night in primetime and 219.4 million viewers overall, making it the most-watched event in U.S. television history. (The 111.5 million viewers who watched last week's Super Bowl ranks as the largest audience for an individual show.)
Part of the reason why NBC's primetime broadcasts were so successful was because the tape delays allowed its production team to create stories and narratives around the athletes and competitions. They were able to turn the athletes into characters in a compelling drama by highlighting their backstories, rivalries, motivations, training regimes, and the like. The Olympics in essence became television's ultimate family-friendly form of entertainment.
The second reason the tape-delayed programming performed so well is precisely because people were able to stream it live first. What basically happened is that die-hard fans who tuned into the live stream not only ended up watching it again on TV, but also raised the interest of casual viewers through the excited conversations on social media about what they just witnessed. The reality is that most people didn't feel cheated by social media spoilers. Instead, they got them to tune into events that they might not have otherwise.
Before Shonda Rhimes wrote the critically-acclaimed series about a Washington D.C. fixer/president’s mistress, she penned some different types of scenes. Here they are, reacted to by the cast of Scandal.
Paramount Pictures via Emily Orley / BuzzFeed
ABC via metalgender.tumblr.com
Because the Russian alphabet is different than the English one.
Ryan Pierse / Getty
In case you didn't know, the Russian alphabet isn't the same as the English alphabet, which means the order of the Parade of Nations is going to be a little different this year because it will be in Russian alphabetical order. So to help you understand when your favorite team is up, here is the order in which the nations will be entering the arena:
Greece
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Albania
Andorra
Argentina
Armenia
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bulgaria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
British Virgin Islands
Great Britain
Hungary
Venezuela
Virgin Islands
Germany
Hong Kong
Georgia
Denmark
Dominica
Zimbabwe
Israel
Iran
Ireland
Iceland
Spain
Italy
Kazakhstan
Cayman Islands
Canada
Cyprus
Kyrgyzstan
China
Latvia
Lebanon
Lithuania
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Morocco
Mexico
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Independent Participants
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Pakistan
Paraguay
Peru
Poland
Portugal
Republic of Korea
Romania
San-Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
United States of America
Tajikistan
Thailand
Chinese Tapei
Timor-Liste
Togo
Tonga
Turkey
Uzbekistan
Ukraine
Philippines
Finland
France
Croatia
Montenegro
Czech Republic
Chile
Switzerland
Sweden
Estonia
Jamaica
Japan
Russia
Where does trash go?
Above: Basir, 8, helps his sister, Ning, climb the "mountain" of waste to find usable plastic.
Bantar Gebang, Indonesia's largest landfill, is a 110-hectare (that's about 11,840,301 square feet) mound of trash. Nicknamed "the mountain" by locals, most of the town's 2,000 residents live off of it: Families rummage through the rubbish for items they can sell to independent recycling companies.
Ulet Ifansasti / Getty Images
Above: Women collecting trash scour the landfill among cattle, picking food and recyclables before sunset.
Known as "trash mountain," New Delhi's disposal site stretches across 70 acres and has been collecting about 9,200 tons of trash a day. Waste has grown 50% since 2007, and it's expected to double — and overflow Ghazipur — by 2024.
Above: A local man holds up some animal parts he found as he stands amid heaping piles of trash.
The devastating earthquake from 2012 left thousands of displaced and homeless Haitians to scavenge their landfill site for usable items.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Above: a Palestinian boy digs through the mounds to collect plastic to be sold for recycling.
Nonfunctioning collection vehicles, waste site toxins leaking into the ground, and no to little resources for hazardous waste disposal have led multiple landfill sites to overflow.
Warrick Page / Getty Images
And so it begins…
Is there a test on this later?
Mark Blinch / Reuters
If you’ve been struggling to get into double digits, this is the only technique you need to learn.
Pears are so underrated. Which is dumb, because they’re so good I can PEARly stand it.
Quentin Bacon / Via foodandwine.com
More than just a pearty face. Get the recipe.
Vanessa Rees / Via saveur.com
Roasted to pearfection. Get the recipe.
Hirsheimer & Hamilton / Via bonappetit.com
Always happy to pear up with blue cheese. Get the recipe.
Quentin Bacon / Via foodandwine.com
Trust me, you’ll never listen to “Bootylicious” the same way ever again.
Song: "Feel This Moment" by Pitbull feat. Christina Aguilera
Actual lyric: "I just wanna feel this moment"
RCA Records/ Pleated-Jeans / Via youtube.com
Song: "Scar Tissue" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Actual lyric: "With the birds I'll share/ This lonely view"
WMG/ Pleated-Jeans / Via youtube.com
Song: "1,2,3,4" by Feist
Actual lyric: "Old teenage hopes are alive at your door"
Polydor/ Pleated-Jeans / Via youtube.com
Song: "Bootylicious" by Destiny's Child
Actual lyric: "I don't think you're ready for this jelly"
Sony BMG/ Pleated-Jeans / Via youtube.com
We spoke with Richelle Mead, author of the wildly popular Vampire Academy series, and here are some deets she dished out.
How did you get the idea for this story, and what was the inspiration?
Richelle Mead: There's no one real source for it, it was kind of a coming together of a lot of different elements. I had taken Eastern European mythology classes in college and there were a lot of great Russian/Romanian vampire stories. That was kind of where I found the Moroi and Strigoi story and then I turned that into my own world. That was one element of it. Another is that I had just really wanted to write a young heroine like Rose who was so funky and in your face and fearless. Sometimes too fearless, but who had the potential to transform throughout the series. So I've always wanted to tell a story like that, and when I decided to pick up on the Romanian vampire myth, it just seemed like a natural idea to merge the two and make that the backdrop of the story.
Sullivan and Partners
Where did the character Rose come from? Was she based on anyone?
RM: Nope, she was just someone I wanted to write. You know, people say, "Oh, are you like Rose?" and if anything, I'm the opposite of Rose; I'm a much more cautious thinking person. Whereas Rose, you know, she'll act first, ask questions later, and I just really wanted to write someone like that who was so spunky and bold and brave and follow her transformation. Despite her being so outgoing and fearless, it can sometimes get her into trouble and so throughout the series she needs to learn how to temper that and mature, and that's a fun journey to do.
How about Lissa? Is she based on anyone?
RM: Nope. I don't base my characters off of anyone, I'm pretty sure you'll lose friends that way because they're never going to be happy with what you do to their characters. Lissa is from my head as well, she's kind of a counterbalance to Rose, a calming influence, and I was really fascinated by the whole bodyguard thing combined with the bond and how it can enhance their friendship, and that helps me create their characters.
Laurie Sparham/The Weinstein Company
What was your favorite scene to write about in the first book?
RM: Probably the whole ending sequence, which is a series of scenes, is my favorite. The endings are always my favorite when I'm writing a book. That's what everything is building towards, all the clues, all the momentum, and so when I get to write that it's really gratifying and it usually goes really fast, especially in comparison to the rest of the book.
Is that what you're looking forward to most in the movie? Also, have you seen the movie?
RM: Yes, I've seen a nearly finished version of it, not the final, but pretty close. The ending was what I was definitely looking forward to, and I love what they did with that. They helped resolve all the main action points, they tweaked a few things, which made it better on the screen and more fun to watch. So overall, I'm really excited about that.
The Weinstein Company / bugaboo121.tumblr.com
Were you on set for the movie at all?
RM: I was on set for about two days. They filmed it in London and I live in Seattle with small children, so I couldn't spend a lot of time over there, but I did go for a couple of days and see some scenes with the cast and it was definitely a lot of fun.
What scenes did you see?
RM: I saw Christian using fire magic in class, although of course there was no fire because they add that with CGI after, but it was a lot of fun to see the person he set on fire pretending to be on fire when there was no actual flames. The other scene I saw was an early scene where Rose and Dimitri have their first confrontation, so that was a big action sub-sequence I actually got to witness, which was pretty cool. They were in full stunt mode with harnesses and gear and all kinds of things there.
That must be so fun to watch everything come to life.
RM: Yeah, definitely. They do so many takes and there's so much detail into it when they're filming, and it's amazing to see what took three hours of filming pushed down into one minute of a scene, but that's what it takes — you have to put a lot of time into it.
Laurie Sparham/The Weinstein Company
By Hannah-Alexander .
hannah-alexander.deviantart.com
hannah-alexander.deviantart.com
hannah-alexander.deviantart.com
hannah-alexander.deviantart.com
This brilliant artist is known for her unique style and geometric watercolor-like tats . Brb, planning my trip to Russia.
This is what happens when Blake, Adam, Kyle, and Ders show up at the BuzzFeed office.
Earlier this week on a dreary morning filled with snow, Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, Anders Holm, and Kyle Newacheck — collectively recognized as the dudes from Comedy Central's Workaholics — sauntered into the BuzzFeed New York office and into our collective heart. We presented them with a series of debate topics — some burning and earnest, others just ridiculous — and given their admission to heartily enjoying the Super Bowl the previous night, we found their ability to take even the most ludicrous question seriously and remain hilarious with a hangover quite impressive.
We presented the gentlemen a series of questions in which they MUST choose one answer or the other — these are their answers.
Macey J. Foronda/BuzzFeed
BuzzFeed Whitney: As the odd man out — why LARPers, Blake?
Blake Anderson: It's really close to D&D and I'm just a fan of the fantasy realm. (Points to his drawing)
BuzzFeed Whitney: And why did the rest of you choose Juggalos?
Adam DeVine: You can go to the dark carnival of souls for free. I'm into hatchets.
Anders Holm: Faygo, baby.
Adam: Moon Mist. They've got a lot of great soda flavors.
Ders: And LARPing's, like, for nerds. Juggalos are, like, hardcore —
Adam: — badass dudes.
Ders: (to Blake) I'm just saying.
Adam: I was at an airport like five years ago and I thought the hatchet man was The Offspring logo. My flight's all messed up and I'm trying to relate to this chick, I'm all, "Well, uh, maybe we can get me on the next one." And I'm like, "Ooh, cool, Offspring! I'm a fan." And I didn't get on that flight.
Ders: The worst thing you can do to a Juggalo is not know about their weird subculture.
Kyle Newacheck: I think it'd be fun to hang out with them just to feel better about yourself.
BuzzFeed Whitney: You guys didn't film the "Straight Up Juggalos" episode at the Gathering, did you?
Kyle: No, we recreated our own gathering. Much safer.
Adam: It looked good though, right? Looked pretty good!
BuzzFeed Dave: I went to the gathering.
Adam: Oh yeah? How was it? Bizarro?
BuzzFeed Dave: Well you said, [Kyle], that you feel better about yourself. I felt pretty good at the end of that. It was wild. People were putting things in weird places.
Ders: What do you mean? Can you elaborate on that? "Weird things in weird places"? Like stumpy arms and butts?
BuzzFeed Dave: Yeah... they were cutting things off their bodies you shouldn't be cutting off.
Ders: Nipples?
BuzzFeed Dave: Yeah, nipples. And then someone ate a nipple I think?
Ders: Is it weird that I knew?
Adam: Well, nipples do grow back though, right? I think they regenerate.
Ders: They just grow back longer.
Adam: I think it's real. I think so.
Kyle: That's fucking gross.
Ders: Let's get a little BuzzFeed fact-check on that?
[Ed.: Yeah, no. Nipples don't magically grow back when cut off without the help of a doctor or cosmetic surgeon.]
Kyle: Yeah... I think I'm switching to LARPing.
Macey J. Foronda/BuzzFeed
Draw me like one of your anatomically alien French girls.
Cameron Stewart gently ribbing on the "Catwoman" cover (he's drawn for the series before).
This is literally the most important quiz in the history of quizzes.
From Gwen Stefani hanging with Sting, to Bey throwing some subtle shade. It’s #ThrowbackThursday!
Via Twitter: @FLOTUS
Are you more of a Clarissa or more of a Doug? We can’t all be Rocko’s Modern Life , unfortunately.
Because you still have the Perfection jingle stuck in your head.
In retrospect this game was terrifying. Players must sneak into the kitchen to get food and not wake up "daddy" -- who must be an angry, abusive person that starved people.
Via board-games.findthebest.com
Loopin' Louie, the only board game where half the fun was getting hit in the face by an out of control "flying" game piece.
Naked. Sweaty. Greek.
