TicketNetwork Blog

So, the Les Miserables film is coming out on Christmas day. Yeah, you have families and all, but the star-studded cast might just be enough to pull some of us out of the jolly holiday and get to the movie theater.

First there’s Hugh Jackman, AKA Wolverine in the X-Men movies. He also starred in a bunch of other things, including the actual Wolverine film (which we won’t talk about), but all that really matters is he’s delightfully Australian and nice to look at. There’s also Russell Crowe, Sacha Baron Cohen, and then three ladies it’s impossible not to love: Anne Hathaway (she’s Catwoman AND the Princess of Genovia), Amanda Seyfried (who was in the best film of all time, Mean Girls), and Helena Bonham Carter (she was in Fight Club, y’all!).

Basically: this film will probably be great, just for the casting choices alone. And if it’s not, well, it wouldn’t be the first theater-turned-Hollywood film to be awful. I’m looking at you, Raise Your Voice.

And this is coming from someone who actually likes Hilary Duff.

But let’s not talk about the bad – how about some really great transitions from theater to the silver screen?

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."

Oh wait, that's Star Wars, created by George Lucas. But that's to whom Peter Jackson is being compared, in some corners, following his decision to extend the film adaptation of The Hobbit. There will now be three films instead of the originally planned two.

Of course, people were anxious when Jackson announced two films. After all, The Hobbit is a fraction of the size of The Lord of The Rings. One book instead of three, and about 300 pages instead of more than 1,000. The argument was that while two films worked for LotR, it would not translate so well to "Hobbit". But after a time people seemed to get used to the idea of two films.

People are even less sure about three. The main worry people have is that there is simply not enough material from the book to carry it through three movies. Or, at least, not enough to do it without it seeming filler-y in places. So, even with some original material thrown in that didn't originally appear in the book, as was already planned, can it work?

Sesame Street has always done a good job entertaining and educating kids since its beginnings in 1969. In recent years, however, they have stepped up their game to include countless pop culture references. Thanks to the latest viral video from Cookie Monster singing his version of Carly Rae Jepsen (see below), I thought it was a good idea to put together some of my favorite Sesame Street videos from the past few years.

Do you have any favorite Sesame Street parodies or spoofs? Let us know in the comments below!

What do you do if you're a television network looking for some other industry to expand into? Create yourself a record label, find yourself a few people with talent, and then watch the tickets fly off the shelf. That's what the Walt Disney Company has been doing for the last several years. Disney, of course, is responsible for launching the careers of Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers. But now that those two acts have settled down for a bit, another network has entered the fray: Nickelodeon.

Though it has released soundtracks for years, Nick really got started in the concert business when Miranda Cosgrove sang the theme song to iCarly, the series she currently stars in, and then launched a recording and touring career. Since then the network has brought together three more musical acts: Keke Palmer, star of the former series True Jackson, VP; Big Time Rush; and The Fresh Beat Band. The latter two in particular have taken off. Big Time Rush is about four kids who get a chance to move to Los Angeles as a band, and spend what time they're not singing trying to solve problems that face them. The Fresh Beat Band has much the same premise, though they're targeted at toddlers.

So yesterday we had quite a debate around the office about whether Transformers count as superheroes or not. It even came up in our team meeting, and the discussion got quite heated, with no clear winner. So we decided to take the debate to our blog and let you all weigh in. Tim and Mike both fought hard for their sides, so below you can see each of their arguments. Once you've decided which side of the line you fall on, take our poll and let us know whether YOU think Transformers should count as superheroes. And if you would like to expand upon your answer, tell us why you chose what you did in the comments. Let the debate begin!