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The second season of FX's "Fargo" miniseries made a huge casting announcement Thursday, revealing three more lead characters and many more recurring guest stars.

Patrick Wilson, Ted Danson, and Jean Smart have all been added to the cast, and will play three key characters on the series. They are:

Lou Solverson (Wilson), described as "a clean cut Minnesota State Patrolman, four years back from Vietnam, where he served in the Navy. A humble and competent man, Lou is a devoted husband to his wife and father to four-year-old Molly."

Hank Larsson (Danson), "the Sheriff of Rock County, Minnesota. An unflappable WWII vet who embodies a certain cowboy poetry, Hank is Lou's father-in-law."

Floyd Gerhardt (Smart), "the matriarch of the Gerhardt crime family. She's stood by her husband's side for 40 years, but now that he's out of the picture, she thinks it's her turn to run things."

In addition to that trio, a host of recurring actors have been added, including Nick Offerman, Brad Garrett, Kieran Culkin, Bokeem Woodbine, Jeffrey Donovan, and Angus Sampson. They join previously-announced leads Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemmons.

Here's the updated official synopsis, per FX:

Young State Police Officer "Lou Solverson" (Wilson), recently back from Vietnam, investigates a case involving a local crime gang and a major Mob syndicate. Helping him piece things together is his father-in-law, "Sheriff Hank Larsson" (Danson). The investigation will lead them to a colorful cast of characters that includes "Karl Weathers" (Nick Offerman), the town lawyer of Luverne, Minnesota. A Korean War vet, Karl is a flowery drunk blessed with the gift of gab and the eloquence of a true con artist. Three-time Emmy winner Brad Garrett will play "Joe Bulo," the front man for the northern expansion of a Kansas City crime syndicate. The new face of corporate crime, Joe's bringing a Walmart mentality to small town America. His number two is "Mike Milligan" (Bokeem Woodbine). Part enforcer, part detective, Mike is always smiling - but the joke is usually on you. Bulo and his crew have their sights set on the Gerhardt crime family in Fargo, currently led by matriarch "Floyd Gerhardt" (Smart). With her husband at death's door, Floyd takes over the family business, frustrating her eldest son, "Dodd Gerhardt" (Jeffrey Donovan). An impatient hothead with a cruel streak to match his ambitions, Dodd can't wait for both his parents to die so he can take over and expand their business from kingdom to empire. "Bear Gerhardt" (Angus Sampson) is the middle son, an intimidatingly large man who, although inarticulate, is the most decent of his clan. "Rye Gerhardt" (Kieran Culkin), the youngest of the Gerhardt clan, views himself as a big shot, but in reality he's just a small dog who barks big.

Season two of "Fargo," set in 1979 Sioux Falls, is due to premiere sometime during fall 2015.

[via: Entertainment Weekly]

Photo credit: Getty Images for The Weinstein Company

It was a simpler time then. The Xbox 360 was bright and new. We lived in a post-red-ring-of-death, pre-horse-armor world. To order a pizza, you actually had to dial someone by telephone. The world knew a kind of peace.

And there, always lurking just out of sight, was The Burger King. And his unflinching, plastinate gaze.

The King Games series, offered for a fee alongside the Burger King value meals in 2006, were not good. They weren't terrible though, in that they functioned and could be completed. I will admit to actually having fun racing my wife in PocketBike Racer, the Mario Kart clone (featuring Brooke Burke).

I still have the complete set. They smell like french fries inside.

But of the three game, the most legendary — and the...

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I know Spotify is into this whole streaming-music thing, but if it ever wants to diversify, I recommend it consider custom catered concerts for middle aged music lovers and other people who hate crowds and bar food.

Tuesday night, I attended Spotify Supper, an annual party for buyers, marketers, publicists, celebrities, general business folk, and party beat reporters. Located deep within the caverns of the Bellagio, in a gold-trimmed nightclub called The Bank, guests were served a mix of good food and good music and brief business pitches.

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More than 2,000 retro video games are now playable for free in your browser, thanks to the Internet Archive.

According to software curator Jason Scott, the Software Library uses an EM-DOSBOX in-browser emulator to run programs. However, browser-based emulation is still in beta and can occasionally run a little wonky.

There's a huge list of games to dig through, but the roster includes titles such as Ms Pac-Man, Metal Gear, The Lion King, Mega Man, Street Fighter 2, Wolfensetein 3D, Prince of Persia, Aladdin (the Sega version) and our personal favorite, The Oregon Trail.

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How the Colombian army sent a hidden messag to hostages… using a pop song

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It's a familiar scene. Someone is trapped in a dangerous place — a derelict space station, a park overrun with dinosaurs — and a friendly voice on the other end of a walkie talkie helps guide them to safety. Only in Mayday! Deep Space, which launches today on iOS for $2.99, that friendly voice is yours. The game is powered almost entirely by your voice, as you use a map to aid someone stranded on a spaceship, giving them directions all the way. It's a short, intimate experience, and one that I can't stop thinking about.

The set-up is simple: you're listening to the voice of someone stuck on a spaceship, one that's been overrun by what appear to be zombie-like monsters. At least that's how it sounds — you can't actually see anything...

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Famed Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is about to become the internet's agony uncle. Yesterday, Murakami's publisher announced that the reclusive writer will launch a website where fans can ask for advice and pose questions "of any kind." The site will be called "Murakami-san no tokoro" or "Mr. Murakami's place," though his publisher, Shinchosha, has not announced a URL or email address for it.

"After so long, I want to exchange emails with readers," Murakami said in a statement published by Shinchosha.

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Chef Justin Swain took over burger-designing duties again this week. He slapped down some Swiss cheese, lettuce, truffle aioli and truffle fries on a burger, and what’s he calling it? “Big Truffle In Little China,” of course, after one of the most awesome movies of the 1980’s (or any other decade).

This dandy little number will be on special tonight at Rex 1516 as part of their weekly Citywide Special promotion. So get on down there and show a little love. Just tell ‘em Jack Burton sent you.

Justin Swain [Instagram]

The post Rex 1516 Goes Cult-y With Their Burger Of The Week appeared first on Philadelphia Magazine.

On January 9 and 10, more than 300 craft brews from about 100 breweries will fill the Pennsylvania Convention Center for the first-ever Big Philly Beerfest.

Look forward to suds from a variety of local breweries — like Victory, Yards, Neshaminy Creek and Sly Fox — in addition to sips from far-flung brewers — like Lagunitas, Allagash, Abita and Smuttynose.

Tickets are required for entry to the Beerfest, and are $45 in advance and $55 at the door for general admission, and $55 in advance and $65 at the door for early admission.

Those with early admission tickets will be granted access to the festival at 6:30 p.m. while general admission ticket-holders will be granted admission at 7:30 p.m. Ticket are available online.

Designated driver tickets are available for $20 per person. Designated driver tickets include a $5 food or soft drink voucher.

Food will also be available for purchase on the first floor of the Convention Center.

On Saturday night: Interested guests can purchase tickets for the Saturday connoisseurs reception, which promises small plates from local restaurants and 12 connoisseur-only beers. Tickets for the connoisseur event are $75 and are available online only.

Proceeds from the event will benefit Animal Rescue Partners, a local organization that supports animal adoption events, animal rescues and more.

Cheers!

Big Philly Beerfest
When: January 9-10; 6:30 p.m. for early admission, 7:30 p.m. for general admission
Where: Pennsylvania Convention Center, 1101 Arch Street
Cost: $20-$65
More info: www.bigphillybeerfest.com

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers need a quarterback. They have the first overall draft pick. And according to Sal Paolantonio and the rest of Western Civilization, that pick will be used on Marcus Mariota, whom Chip Kelly probably desperately wants.

“In my opinion, it is virtually impossible to draft Marcus Mariota where the Eagles draft,” Sal Pal said while talking to Tim McManus on Mike Missanelli’s 97.5 The Fanatic™. “I can’t see a solution to this problem other than making your team so weak that you mortgage the future.”

Kelly likely wants Mariota to be his quarterback next year, but moving up from 20 to 1 is nearly unheard of, and to convince the Bucs — a team in desperate need of a quarterback — that it’s a good idea would be a tough task. But that’s not to say Chip won’t coach Mariota at some point. It just might not happen in Philly… if you believe Sal’s continued slinging of shit onto a blank space that’s unfortunately not the one Taylor Swift speaks of in her hit single.

“[The Bucs] will go out and find a coach who can [coach Mariota],” Sal Pal continued. “Chip Kelly has two more years on his deal, they won’t leave him hanging on a lame duck year in the third year. Chip probably said to himself ‘I can wait it out here for two years… then go coach Mariota.'”

Thanks a lot, Sal. We just got done with all of that “Chip Kelly is leaving” stuff, and then he gets a promotion, and now we’re right back into that “Chip Kelly is leaving” stuff again. Really, great job, thanks so much.

The audio of Sal Pal’s entire call can be heard here.

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Happy New Year !    [ video ]

Holy Crap!

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You can watch the modern day cyber war play out in real time with the help of this map from IT security firm Norse.

Norse maintains a massive network of sensors across more than 200 data centers in over 50 countries, at least eight million of them in total. These "honeypots" are designed to look like everything and anything that connects to the internet — from grandma's new netbook to ATM machines, water treatment plants and even gaming servers. The web is designed to detect traffic from bad actors around the world and flag their IP addresses as a danger to other users.

All that information contributes to Norse's subscription service, called Darklist, what Norse says is "a live, continuously updated list of the highest risk IPs."

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"Mythbusters fire a soccer ball at 50mph out of a cannon on a truck driving at 50mph in the opposite direction." [via]

Video: 13 Dogs and 1 Cat Enjoy a Huge Holiday Feast

Even with tearing apart a single book and turning it into three movies, Peter Jackson doesn't scratch the surface of J.R.R. Tolkien's rich lore.

The backstory to The Hobbit and the tale in The Lord of the Rings all take place in a mythology that isn't that deeply explored even in the books unless you crack open The Silmarillion. Since you likely don't have time to zip through that book before popping out to catch The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, CGP Grey has just the video for you.

The famously insightful YouTuber does a delightful job of summarizing the basic mythology of the world, delivering some really interesting details that could help flesh out your experience watching the movies.

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We are watching precedent unfold in front of us right now, and I'm afraid we're doing it wrong. Fear is driving a major studio to pull a film from release before it has even opened, and fear had every major theater chain ready to drop the film if the studio hadn't backed down. This...http://www.hitfix.com/blogs/motion-captured

5. The animation was super expensive (and super inconsistent)

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Just as the plot of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser is predicated around an innocuous object, like a puzzle box, that has the power to unleash untold pain on the world, so too has the podcast Serial proved to be a font, but for hilarious and diverting Internet content instead. Previously this corner of the Internet has covered several Serial parodies, a mashup of its opening Mail Chimp advertisement, and a version imagining the show’s intro using clips from Seinfeld, even going as far as producing its own podcast dissecting the show. But few things have been as alluring to would-be producers as Nick Thorburn’s now iconic Serial theme song. It’s been thoughtfully rapped over and provided backing for Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball.” But now Soundcloud user Fafu has posted what might be the definitive creation with his “Life After Serial,” combining an uptempo version of the aforementioned ...

"Most Awful Sleeping Face in Japan" (photos by @mino_ris/via neebus)