Tag Archives: HBO

John Oliver On The 911 System [VIDEO]

John Oliver notes that Uber drivers can often pinpoint your location more accurately than some 911 systems. Via Gizmodo: Many of the call centers that handle your emergency calls are powered by out-dated technology. John Oliver thinks that’s “fine if you’re describing a Radio Shack, but a little scary if you’re calling a place that handles emergency situations.” He reckons …

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John Oliver On Scientific Studies [VIDEO]

Yahoo recaps: On Sunday’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver debunked scientific studies that make outrageous claims. Oliver pointed to an example of an all too familiar subject of studies: Coffee. “In just the last few months, we’ve seen studies about coffee that claim it may reverse the effects of liver damage, help prevent colon cancer, decrease the risk of endometrial …

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Dan Savage Schools Coulter On Trans Rights [VIDEO]

Last night Dan Savage and Ann Coulter battled over transgender rights on Bill Maher’s HBO show, with Coulter making the familiar and widely-debunked claim that predators will use so-called “bathroom laws” to assault women and children. Andy Towle has Savage’s best line: “They couldn’t demagogue anymore about gays and lesbians because too many of us are out and too many …

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SPOILER: Game Of Thrones

For ten months much of the world has wondered if Jon Snow was really dead. Even President Obama grilled Games Of Thrones director David Nutter about the fate of the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Stay out of the comments of if you don’t yet know if Melisandre’s spell worked. Otherwise dive in and dish the gore.

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John Oliver On Puerto Rico’s Fiscal Crisis [VIDEO]

TIME recaps: John Oliver turned his attention southward on Last Week Tonight to discuss Puerto Rico. The U.S. territory is in a massive financial crisis, facing nearly $70 billion in debt, with a poverty rate of nearly 45%. “Puerto Rico is like the last Tower Records: everything’s overpriced, everyone’s being laid off, and there is still a really weird number …

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SPOILER: Game Of Thrones Season Debut

Last night HBO launched the hotly-anticipated sixth season of Game Of Thrones. Stay out of the comments below if you’ve not yet seen the debut episode. Otherwise dive in and dish the body count.

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John Oliver Takes On Flint’s Lead Crisis [VIDEO]

Stick around for the Sesame Street singalong at the end. Via Salon: “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver last night centered his main segment on lead — as in the element that’s effectively poisoned the drinking water in Flint, Michigan. “Unfortunately, the problem is not just in Flint,” Oliver explained, citing a USA Today Network report that “found lead contamination …

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Bill Maher’s New Rule: Tax The Church [VIDEO]

Maher’s best line: “You wanna tax tobacco so kids don’t get cancer? OK. Then let’s tax Sunday school so they don’t get stupid.” Mediaite recaps: “Now that it’s April 15,” he said, “all U.S. taxpayers must call out the deadbeats who ride for free, which includes giant corporations like GM and United Airlines, which this year are going to pay …

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Slate Writer Files Freedom Of Information Demand To See Obama’s Advance Copy Of Game Of Thrones

From Slate columnist Vanessa Golembewski: At a premiere event earlier this week in Hollywood, Game of Thrones showrunner Dan Weiss revealed that President Obama is the only person outside of HBO who will see advance screenings of new episodes. That means those who traditionally view them — mainly journalists, industry folk, and the occasional fan group — have no choice …

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TRAILER: Game Of Thrones Season 6

Via Gothamist: We’re less than two weeks away from the premiere of season six of somewhat popular entertainment series Game Of Thrones, and HBO has released an action-packed brand new trailer to feed the flames of fandom. Watch below and check out blind Arya, the return of Walder Frey, the Night’s King, dragon shadows, badass Sansa, greyscale-infected Jorah (Ser Friendzone!), …

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John Oliver Skewers Credit Report Agencies [VIDEO]

TIME recaps: This week, Last Week Tonight tackled credit reports, or as John Oliver calls them, “the basis for the single most important three digit number in your whole life other than 311, the Beatles of rap-rock.” Credit reports can affect many aspects of your life, including whether banks will lend you money or whether a landlord will rent you …

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Alex Newell & Nile Rodgers – Kill The Lights [VIDEO]

Glee star and budding dance diva Alex Newell is out with a scorching disco throwback track today. Kill The Lights features legendary producer Nile Rodgers on guitar and will debut on this weekend’s episode of HBO’s Vinyl as the show’s timeline moves into the disco era. This WILL get your weekend pumping. And yeah, shades of Sylvester here.

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TRAILER: Nothing Left Unsaid

HBO’s documentary about Anderson Cooper and his famed mother Gloria Vanderbilt played at Sundance earlier this year and debuts on HBO tomorrow night. Here’s an excerpt from today’s Vanity Fair review: The early part of Vanderbilt’s life, when she was the famous “poor little rich girl” at the center of a bitter custody dispute that was then known as “the …

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John Oliver Rips Into Candidate Fundraising [VIDEO]

Mediaite recaps: The deep-dive on Sunday night’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver took a look at the role of money in politics, but not in the we-all-know-there-should-less-money-in-politics sort of way. Instead, the segment examined the hours lost to congressional fundraising, and the mind-numbingly dull process for elected officials to ensure that they stay competitive in their reelection bids. Oliver …

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John Oliver On YouTube’s Conspiracy Nuts [VIDEO]

The Week recaps: Last Week Tonight took a break for Easter, but John Oliver posted a special web-only video to celebrate the holiday. And he created it, he said, “in one of YouTube’s most entertaining forms. I’m talking, of course, about YouTube conspiracy videos, science fiction for people who don’t understand they’re watching science fiction.” Whenever he watches one of …

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TRAILER: Game Of Thrones

TIME recaps: HBO released the latest trailer for the sixth season of Game of Thrones and if one thing is (unsurprisingly) clear, there’s going to be a lot of death. The 30-second clip begins with Tyrion cautioning someone: “Are you afraid? You should be. You’re in the great game now.” “We are sinful creatures. We deserve death. We all do,” …

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AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Lifts “Continuity & Change” Slogan From HBO’s Veep

Actress Julie Louis-Dreyfus yesterday tweeted that she is “dumbstruck” that Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has begun using her Veep character’s amusingly contradictory campaign slogan in media appearances. Junkee reports: Over the past couple of days, Turnbull has been channeling his predecessor and whipping out a bit of a three-word slogan. He first broke it in on 7.30 with Leigh …

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John Oliver Does The Math On Trump’s Wall [VIDEO]

The Daily Beast recaps: On Sunday’s edition of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, host John Oliver demolished Trump’s silly wall plan. “The border wall is one of the few policy proposals Trump has talked about in detail, so instead of mocking or dismissing it out of hand, tonight let’s take a serious proposal by a serious presidential candidate seriously,” announced Oliver. …

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TRAILER: Game Of Thrones Season Six

The Verge recaps: The sixth season of Game of Thrones begins on Sunday April 24th, and this new trailer has us near trembling with excitement. Set to the melancholic strains of James Vincent McMorrow’s “Wicked Game,” it promises a difficult future for the main characters, including the imprisonment of Daenerys Targaryen, the introduction of Sansa Stark to the “great game,” …

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TRAILER: Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures

From HBO’s press materials: “Look at the pictures,” said Senator Jesse Helms, denouncing the controversial art of Robert Mapplethorpe, whose photographs pushed boundaries with frank depictions of nudity, sexuality and fetishism, igniting a culture war that rages to this day. More than 25 years later, the HBO Documentary Films presentation MAPPLETHORPE: LOOK AT THE PICTURES does just that, taking an …

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