Pop Culture Checklist

Happy first day of spring! Finally, warmer and sunnier days are ahead — I can’t wait!

This edition of the Weekly Buzz includes more Easter activities (it’s Sunday, ya know) and other Pop Culture information you need to know. The Weekly Buzz is posted every Thursday.

LOCAL EVENTS

–An Easter egg hunt will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at St. Mary’s Park. It’s for those ages 18 months to 12 years. Entertainment, refreshments and a visit from Easter Bunny will be held.

–An Easter egg scramble will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Lake Erie Metropark, Wave Pool complex, 32481 W. Jefferson Rd., Brownstown Township. The event includes an egg hunt, make a lunch bag easter basket, take a wagon ride on a bunny trail, pet live bunnies and lambs and meet Easter muskrat. Cost is $5 each. Tickets sold in ADVANCE ONLY at the park office. Call 379-5020.

REGIONAL EVENTS

–An animal egg hunt begins at 10 a.m. Friday at the Toledo Zoo, 2700 Broadway Ave., Toledo. Cost is $10 for adults, $7 for kids and seniors and free for members. The event ends at 4 p.m.

–The Zenobia Shrine Circus will be in Toledo from March 27 through March 30. It will be held at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on each day. Cost is $25 for VIP seating; $20 for center ring; $15 for end ring, and $10 for corner seats. It will be at the SeaGate Convention Center, 401 Jefferson Ave., Toledo. For tickets, call (419) 242-9981 or 1-800-Go Circus.  

–The annual “Marshmallow Drop” will be Friday. It will be at 9 a.m. at Elizabeth Park in Trenton and at 11 a.m. at Nankin Mills Park in Westland. Thousands of marshmallows will be dropped from a helicopter to be turned in for a prize. Elizabeth Park is located on W. Jefferson, south of West Rd. in Trenton. Nankin Mills Park is located on Hines Dr., just east of Ann Arbor Trail in Westland. For more information, call (734) 261-1990 or visit www.waynecountyparks.org.

–”Xtreme Cage Fighting: Rumble in Royal Oak” will be held Saturday at Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St. Doors open at 6 p.m. All ages welcome. For details, call (248) 399-2980.   

TV NEWS

–More shows are coming back with new episodes. Next up is “CSI: Miami,” which returns at 10 p.m. Monday on CBS.

–Britney Spears will make a guest appearance on CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother” at 8:30 p.m. Monday.

–Joel Gretsch (The 4400) will play Angie Harmon’s new love interest on “Women’s Murder Club.” He’s slated to appear in all three of the show’s post-strike episodes.

–Robin Williams will make a guest appearance on NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU.” The April 29th episode will mark the show’s 200th episode.

TV PREMIERES

Tonight — I Know My Kid’s A Star (VH1)

Monday — Greek (ABC Family)

TV FINALES

Friday — Free Radio (VH1)

Sunday — The L Word (Showtime)

Monday — Primetime (ABC)

Wednesday — Pros vs. Joes (Spike TV)

DVD NEWS

–The “Best of the Price is Right” DVD set is coming Tuesday. It’s a 4-DVD set that include 26 episodes.

–All three “Indiana Jones” movies will debut in a box set coming out May 13. The movies are “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.”

DVD releases for Tuesday, March 25

-The Kite Runner

-April Fool’s Day

-Bonnie and Clyde

-Lost Highway

-Party of Five: Third Season

-Stephen King’s The Mist

-The Unknown Soldier

-Kings of the Sun

-It’s a Big, Big World: Volume 7 (Volume 8 also available separately)

MOVIES…hitting theaters on Friday, March 21

-Drillbit Taylor

-Shutter

-Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns

In limited release: Boarding Gate, The Grand, The Hammer, Planet B-Boy and Shelter

MUSIC NEWS 

–Kids in the Hall will be at Royal Oak Music Theatre on Friday, May 30. All ages welcome. Tickets go on sale at 5 p.m. Friday. The theatre is located at 318 W. Fourth St. For more information, call (248) 399-2980.

–The Fabulous 48’s (wsg Kilbury Unit and Mahony) will perform tonight at the Emerald Theatre. For tickets, call (248) 645-6666. The Nerves are playing March 26 with special guest Solystic and others. All ages welcome.

ALBUMS…arriving Tuesday, March 25

-Counting Crows, “Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings”

-Gnarls Barkley, “The Odd Couple”

-Morrissey, “Greatest Hits”

-Panic! At The Disco, “Pretty Odd”

-The B-52’s, “Funplex”

-Pennywise, “Reason to Believe”

-Plies, “Real Definitions”  

Amanda Overmyer was voted off American Idol last night. She missed the top 10, which means she won’t be on the tour.

I was shocked that Kristy Lee Cook survived once again. Who is voting for her? If it’s you, stop it!!! She’s horrible! She was in the bottom two, but somehow survived.

What was even more surprising was my favorite girl, Carly Smithson, was in the bottom three. What was that all about?!?

In honor of Mister Rogers’ 80th birthday on Thursday, we’re being asked to wear our favorite sweater on that day.

David Newell, public relations director for Family Communications, is making the special request. He said it doesn’t have to have a zipper down the front like the one Mister Rogers wore on the show, just one that is special to you.

“Sweater Day” is part of Pittsburgh’s anniversary celebration and first-ever “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” Days from March 15 to March 20. Mister Rogers is from Pennsylvania.

For more information about Sweater Day and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” Days, visit www.misterrogers.org.

Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain is being commemorated in a series of shoes from Converse.

So far, they include a pair of Converse One Tops and several pairs of Converse High-Tops that will feature Cobain’s autograph, lyrics and writings.

The black Converse One Tops are the same shoes that he wore when he shot himself in his Seattle home in April, 1994.

The Cobain shoe is part of the brand’s 100th anniversary, which has featured other famous dead people such as Hunter S. Thompson, Sid Vicious and Ian Curtis.

Don’t forget that another installment of “Dancing with the Stars” begins at 8 p.m. tonight on ABC. 

Here are the “celebrtities” this time around:

-Marlee Matlin, actress

-Adam Carolla, comedian/DJ

-Shannon Elizabeth, actress (American Pie)

-Steve Guttenberg, actor (Police Academy movies)

-Cristian de la Fuente, actor (Ugly Betty)

-Marissa Jaret Winokur, actress (Broadway’s Hairspray)

-Jason Taylor, Miami Dolphins

-Mario, R&B singer

-Priscilla Presley, actress

-Kristi Yamaguchi, figure skater

-Penn Jillette, illusionist

-Monica Seles, former tennis pro

Finally, after months of waiting, new episodes of our favorite shows are returning!

CBS kicks off new episodes tonight. Take note that ’Bang Theory’ and ‘Mother’ swapped time slots.

Here’s the schedule:

8 p.m. — The Big Bang Theory

8:30 p.m. — How I Met Your Mother

9 p.m. — Two and a Half Men

9:30 p.m. – New Adventures of Old Christine 

I bet Paul McCartney is kicking himself for not making Heather Mills sign a prenup.

Now, after a bitter divorce battle, a judge this morning ordered McCartney to pay Mills $48 million in the divorce settlement. OUCH!!!

The animated film “Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!” clobbered the competition at the box office this weekend.

It earned $45.1 million in its debut, the best opening so far this year.

Jim Carrey and Steve Carell lend their voices for the movie, an adaptation of the book about an elephant defending a microscopic community from destruction.

The previous number one movie, “10,000 B.C.” fell to second place with $16.4 million. Its 10-day total is $61.2 million.

BOX OFFICE TOP 10

1. Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, $45.1 million

2. 10,000 B.C., $16.4 million

3. Never Back Down, $8.6 million

4. College Road Trip, $7.9 million

5. Vantage Point, $5.4 million

6. The Bank Job, $4.9 million

7. Doomsday, $4.7 million

8. Semi-Pro, $3 million

9. The Other Boleyn Girl, $2.9 million

10. The Spiderwick Chronicles, $2.4 million

The following is a list of some of the latest movie news, castings

–Sam Raimi, Ellen Goldsmith Vein and Josh Donen will co-produce “Monster Zoo.” Based on the graphic novel by Douglas TenNapel, the film is about a young boy who finds the animals at the local zoo are more frightening than anyone else realizes.

–Dreamworks Animation’s “Monsters vs. Aliens” will include some familiar voices. The film will include the voices of Kiefer Sutherland, Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie, Will Arnett, Seth Rogan, Paul Rudd, Rainn Wilson and Stephen Colbert. It will be released on March 27, 2009.

–”Confessions of a Shopaholic” cast includes John Lithgow, Kristin Scott Thomas, Leslie Bibb, Lynn Redgrave and Julie Hagerty. Isla Fisher stars as a compulsive shopper in Manhattan who gets caught up in serious financial debt, but becomes a financial advice columnist. The film is based on the novel by Sophie Kinsella.

–Rachel Weisz and Max Minghella will star in an ancient Egyptian epic “Agora.” It’s set in Roman Egypt in the fourth century A.D. Weisz plays an astrologer-philosopher who fights to save the collected wisdom of the ancient world. Her slave Davus (Minghella) is torn between his love for his mistress and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity.

–Jason Segal, one of the stars of ”How I Met Your Mother,” is writing the screenplay for the next Muppets movie.

–Carla Gugino will star along with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in “Race to Witch Mountain.” Actor/director Garry Marshall also will star. The film begins shooting this month in L.A.

–Paramount Pictures will make an animated film inspired by the 1970’s Sci-Fi fantasy magazine “Heavy Metal.” The movie will consist of eight or nine individual animated segments.

–The last “Harry Potter” book will be split into two films. The first part of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” will be released in November, 2010, while the second part will be released in May, 2011.      

If you missed last night’s TV debut of the “Incredible Hulk” trailer, do not worry!

It is now available online, and you can watch it right here.

The movie stars Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, and also stars Liv Tyler, Tim Roth and William Hurt. It looks so much better than the last ‘Hulk’ movie. This one actually looks credible and with a better cast.

It hits theaters June 13.