MTV Awards spellbound by WandaVision

Marvel Studios' WandaVision was a huge hit with critics and fans (myself included) earlier this year on Disney+. The live-action spin-off series deftly explored themes of grief and loss in the wake of Avengers: Endgame.

It was WandaVision's night at the 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards, and here are the best moments with Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch) and Kathryn Hahn (Agatha Harkness).



Agatha All Along, the satirical theme song performed by Hahn herself, spawned countless memes and topped the iTunes charts.

Hahn cites a relative on her mother's side as an inspiration for fan-favourite Agatha. "My maternal grandmother," she said. "I heard her sing-song voice, definite [during] the ’50s and ’60s [eras]; everything ended on a question. She was in there."

What are your favourite moments from WandaVision? Let me know in the comments below.

R2-D2 announces official Star Wars Tumblr

The force is strong with Tumblr!

R2-D2 announced the official launch of Star Wars on the social media site. This is only weeks after Disney launched an official Instagram account.

A statement on the site reads: "Artoo is pleased to announce the launch of our official Tumblr!"

"We promise there won’t be any cat videos… except maybe a Nexu or two."

Star Wars Episode 7 director JJ Abrams recently spoke about the decision to delay the film’s release date back from summer 2015 to December 18, 2015.

JJ Abrams told MTV: "Before I even came on to the project they were talking about 2015," he explained.

"And they made this announcement very early on, which I understand. But it didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the reality of where anything was creatively.

Abrams added: "A release date is great, but you have to release something great. To me, the new release date is a huge improvement."

Download MTV's The Hills on iTunes

The Hills is back for season 4, and the girls are beginning to make some big decisions that will set the course for the rest of their lives.

While Lauren struggles to balance the tension between her roommates, Audrina and Lo, she starts dating Doug, an old flame from Laguna Beach. Meanwhile, Brody, Audrina and just about everyone else warn Lauren not to trust her new friend, Stephanie Pratt (Spencer's sister). And when Lauren makes a surprising discovery about Stephanie and Doug, she realizes that her friends might be right.

Just as Audrina thinks it's time to let her boyfriend Justin go and begins dating Colin, Justin turns up the heat in their relationship, leaving her torn. Whitney rises up the ranks at People's Revolution much faster than she expected and meets a model in New York who could possibly sweep her off her feet. And Heidi deals with the consequences of moving back in with Spencer, including putting her job at risk. As if that wasn't enough, Heidi's sister Holly comes from Colorado for an indefinite visit, putting some serious pressure on her renewed relationship with Spencer.

During season 4 of The Hills, life in Los Angeles only gets more complicated as friendships, relationships and loyalties are tested like never before.

Series 4 of The Hills started last Sunday night on MTV and to get yourself in the mood, download an exclusive free clip which goes behind the scenes at The Hills UK aftershow party and gives you an idea of what to expect from Series 4.

MTV True Life is now casting for "I'm a Fanboy"

ARE YOU A FANBOY?

MTV’S TRUE LIFE WANTS TO HEAR YOUR STORY!

Are you a young person who is obsessed with a certain book, comic, or video game? MTV’s True Life is looking for young people who are die-hard fans of certain brands, characters, or fantasy series.

Are you obsessed with comic books, anime, fantasy, or manga? Do you like to dress up as your favorite character and attend conventions with other fans? Have you ever waited in line overnight for a book, movie, or video game release? Do you have tattoos depicting your favorite brand or characters? Have you ever missed work, school, or other important events to engage in role-playing or cosplay? Are you misunderstood by your family or significant other because of it? Do you aspire to author your own graphic novel or comic series despite your parents’ disapproval?

If you appear to be between the ages of 16 and 28, and want to share the story of your fantasy obsession, email us at fanboy@mtvn.com with all of the details. Be sure to include your name, location, phone number and a photo, if possible.

Tell MTV why you need to be seen and heard. This is your chance to let others see what your life is all about!

"Padme" wins the George Lucas Selects Award at Comic-Con

A reader sent me the following, which I wanted to share with fellow Star Wars fans!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The comedy short Padmé won the George Lucas Selects Award at the 2008 Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge, held at the San Diego Comic-Con. Producers Jason Ginsburg, Robert Reeves, and Kevin Walsh accepted the top prize, beating thousands of other entries and over forty finalists.

Padmé has been a fan favorite since its debut on Atom.com (co-producer of the awards), garnering great reviews from Star Wars fans, bloggers, the science-fiction site io9, and the Times of London. The honors continued when George Lucas himself named Padmé his personal favorite.

A parody of Juno using Star Wars characters, Padmé pokes fun at the similar tales of two sets of teens who learn that teen pregnancy is no joke -- unless you mix in some hip teen dialog and the Dark Side of the Force. Ginsburg, Reeves, and Walsh even created Star Wars versions of Juno's famously quirky songs.

"We're truly honored that Lucas picked us," said co-producer and performer Jason Ginsburg after the ceremony. "We were up against films with much bigger budgets. The three of us shot Padmé at five locations in five days, played half the roles, and served as our own crew."

"The other winners are all top-quality entries spanning several genres," said writer Kevin Walsh. "After seeing them all again at the ceremony, we were surprised and humbled to take home the ultimate trophy."

The film's cast includes Lisa Vendette (star of the web series Hollywood Acting Class) in the title role, along with Gerald Webb, Robin Johnstone, and Riley Rose Critchlow. The three producers also appear in the film; Ginsburg alone portrays Yoda, C-3PO, Darth Vader, and the Emperor.

Celebrity guests at the awards ceremony included Kevin Spacey, Reneé O'Connor (Xena: Warrior Princess), Danny Kastner (The Apprentice), and Kyle Newman, director of the upcoming MGM film Fanboys.

The Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge is an annual short film contest sponsored by Lucasfilm and Atom.com, a comedy website owned by MTV Networks. Spike TV will air a special featuring all of the 2008 winners this fall.

Padmé can be found exclusively on the Atom site, at:

http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/sw_padme/

REEVESREEL is a production and visual effects company founded by Robert Reeves. Reeves directed and starred Cheap Seats, which won the Best Comedy award at the Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge in 2005. Reeves' movie Wheeled Migration (a mockumentary about shopping carts) played in festivals such as the 48-Hour Film Festival, the Comic-Con International Film Festival, and the Universal Studios Film Festival where it won for Best Documentary and Best in Show. ReevesReel can be found at www.myspace.com/reevesreel.

ReevesReel contact: reevesreel@earthlink.net, 818.822.9237

EVIL GENIUS ENTERTAINMENT is a production company founded by USC film graduates Jason Ginsburg and Kevin Walsh. Together, they have written several award-winning feature screenplays and created comedy content for the National Lampoon and mobile phones. Individually, Kevin Walsh is the co-creator of the comic book series Salem: Queen of Thorns (BOOM! Studios). Jason Ginsburg has received high praise for his satire of 24, Jack Bauer's Day Off. Evil Genius content can be found at www.evilgents.com.

Evil Genius Entertainment contact: evilgent@evilgents.com, 310.890.0323

Can't Speak French

Yesterday Girls Aloud unleashed the sultry Can't Speak French EP, the third single taken from Tangled Up! The remix hits the sweet spot coupled with an evocative Marie Antoinette video promo, which recalls Madonna's MTV Music Awards 1990 performance of Vogue!

Jungle Joost™

This afternoon I received confirmation from Joost™ that I'm now an official beta tester for their peer-to-peer streaming video client (Intel-based Mac support only, although a PowerPC build is in the works).



Joost™ is a new way of watching TV on the internet, which uses new and established technologies to provide the best of both the internet and TV worlds. We're in the process of making it as TV-like as we can, with programmes, channels and adverts. You can also see some things that we think will enhance the TV experience: searching for programmes and channels, for example, as well as social features like chat. There are many more new features to come!

How does it work?

Joost™ uses secure peer-to-peer technology to stream programmes to your computer. Unlike other TV and video-based web applications, it does not require users to download any files to their computers or browse through complicated websites.

Viacom Inc. and Joost entered into a content provider agreement for the Joost platform on February 20, 2007. Under the agreement divisions of Viacom (including MTV Networks, BET Networks and Paramount Pictures) will license their "television and theatrical programing" to Joost™.

As yet I don't have any invitation tokens to give out to regular readers. However, anyone who leaves a non-destructive comment (on any of my posts) will be given first consideration.

Meet & Greet

Last evening I received a telephone call from Sony BMG Music UK! I've won tickets to see Beyoncé, in concert, later this month at an exclusive BBC event! What an amazing pre-holiday surprise!

Don't ever recall winning a competition before, and am therefore, if you'll excuse the informality, stoked! I've been a fan of Beyoncé since 1999 when I saw Destiny's Child perform, seminal song, Say My Name on MTV.

Hmm, wonder what future Sony swag is in-store for consumers following the release of the P!nk co-branded PSP? One endorsed by Beyoncé or Jennifer Lopez? Yum, yum!

System Addict

Spotlight has me hook, line and sinker. Corel Painter IX boasts a plug-in. Adobe what's taking you so long? The only fly in the ointment has been iTunes 4.8: Error 400 in the iTunes Music Store. Turns out it's a bad batch of cookies.

When WipEout (1995) premiered on PSone I was in my final year of undergraduate study. The game blended sound and vision into a compelling cocktail that owed much to Monaco GP and MTV. PSP is graced with arguably the definitive edition of the indelible franchise, WipEout Pure, one that will be expanded upon with bonus packages (tracks and music). Pod Race anyone?

Platoon

Hot on the heels of last week's Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, which is proving popular with thousands of Mac gamers. America's Army: Special Forces 2.3 was released for Mac OS X today. AA has the somewhat dubious honor of being endorsed by the US Army as a recruitment tool. Unlike ET, AA is based on Epic Games' Unreal Engine 2 and minimum system requirements are higher. I'll leave you to deliberate over any ideological concerns. IMG Pro users can download it now (759MB).

In other gaming news. There's a new unofficial MacMAME Xcode build available. Sega's Thunder Blade (1987) is finally 100% accurate. I remember playing the notoriously difficult Thunder Blade at Exeter's Megabowl whilst MTV was showing Madonna videos back to back.

I want my MTV

During the week I got to grips with Real Export Plug-in and whipped up RealVideo and RealAudio samples, that can be downloaded from my site. They are encoded in Variable Bit Rate (VBR) Download format and really fly!

VBR is an encoding method that ensures consistent high audio or video quality throughout an encoded file by making intelligent bit-allocation decisions during the encoding process. In this instance the encoded files were multi-passed for high quality.

Express Yourself

Pepsi has announced an iPod promotion in Australia alongside sponsorship of pop sensation Delta Goodrem! Presumably there'll be a similar Pepsi promo in Europe when iTunes Music Store is released?

After losing many daylight hours testing the World of Warcraft beta. DarkRyder has been joined by Human Warrior Mondas (named after the home planet of Doctor Who's calculating Cybermen). He resembles the new He-Man sculpt from The Four Horsemen! Fans of Blizzard's various franchises may be delighted to learn that Mac OS X installation patches for classic titles Diablo and Starcraft are to be released over the coming weeks. Feel the love!

Can't wait for Friday's release of The Day After Tomorrow! CGI geeks (and who isn't?) should see Terragen, a landscape generator that is heavily utilised in the movie!

Madonna begins her "Reinvention" World Tour tonight. Aroused by the success of Britney, Beyoncé and Kylie, Madonna is "dusting off" those old hits - Get Into The Groove to Vogue - and promises a show as spectacular and provocative as Blond Ambition '90 (I attended the infamous live BBC Radio One broadcast from Wembley Stadium in July, 1990).

The Sun and listening to Alanis Morissette's So-Called Chaos is so soaking up my time! BTW I watched The Corrs new video on MTV! It still "hurts" to look at Andrea!

Stand by Me

Ever had one of those weeks where you were vindicated for 'standing alone' against popular opinion? This happened to me and it's "cold comfort"!

My "crush" on Jennifer Garner continues unabated! Her 2004 MTV diary rocked my world! The MTV cameras followed Jennifer around Sun-Kissed California for a week, and it was refreshing to see an actress who was genuinely engaging and self deprecating! Please have my baby!

Keira Knightley is featured in a photoshoot and interview in today's Sunday Times style magazine.

Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 won at Cannes. Incidentally, my final year dissertation was based on Moore's TV Nation! Go Michael!

I'm currently preparing my first über software backup to DVD-R!