This Week in Pop Culture: December 15 - 21, 2018

Penny Marshall died this week from complications from diabetes at the age of 75. Marshall was a successful sitcom actress in the 1970s, starring in Laverne & Shirley who went on to direct several feature films. Her directorial debut, Big, was the first film directed by a woman to make over $100 million at the box office. Marshall also directed A League of Their Own, which starred Madonna.

This week Childish Gambino wrapped up what he says will be his farewell tour. The L.A. concert featured a few songs from his forthcoming album but concentrated on his back catalog. Many fans are already speculating on social media as to what the multitalented writer and director will do next.

A few weeks back, Cardi B. announced that she was divorcing her rapper husband, Offset. This week he walked on stage at her concert and essentially begged her to take him back. This real-life soap opera already has so many twists and turns that it’s hard to keep track of. What we do know is that Cardi B. was not pleased that Offset crashed her show, and at the moment the pair has not reconciled yet.

The biggest video game of the year is undoubtedly Fortnite. Now, two notables are suing the game’s creators for stealing their dance moves. Alfonso Ribiero, famous for playing Carlton on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and the kid whose “flossing” at a Katy Perry performance went viral, both claim that characters in Fortnite do the dances that made them famous without permission or acknowledgement. Inextricable means “essential” or “unable to separate from.”

Ed Sheeran had an extremely successful year. His world tour grossed more money than any other this year, and is also the biggest money-maker since they started keeping track of these things 30 years ago. The tour grossed $432 million dollars, eclipsing even Taylor Swift’s “Reputation” tour, which took in a mere $345.1 million.

Good news for fans of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. On the heels of the successful holiday special, Netflix has ordered two more seasons of the show. That’s a total of 16 new episodes to look forward to. Sabrina stars Kiernan Shipka as a half-human, half-witch who is coming to terms with the witchy part of her existence.

There was a brief Beatles reunion (sort of) this week at the end of Paul McCartney’s concert in London. Drummer Ringo Starr joined McCartney’s band for one song. Ron Wood, a member of The Rolling Stones, played guitar on the number as well. With the deaths of fellow Beatles John Lennon in 1980 and George Harrison in 2001, a Beatles reunion now consists of just Paul and Ringo, who rarely appear together in public but remain close in their private lives.

Another big success in the world of video games this year was the Nintendo Switch, and its biggest game Super Smash Brothers. The game sold about three million copies in just eleven days. The latest Switch has sold almost 9 million units this year. Sporadic comes from Greek and Latin words meaning “scattered” and “dispersed” from a root that meant a “sowing “ or scattering of seeds.

Mary Poppins Returns, the sequel to the 1964 classic starring Julie Andrews, hits theaters this week, with Emily Blunt assuming the title role. Also featured in the film is Lin-Manuel Miranda, the author and original star of the musical Hamilton. Miranda did not write the songs in Mary Poppins, though.

Mariah Carey’s song “All I Want for Christmas” hit number 6 on the Billboard charts this week. That’s the highest a Christmas song has charted in 60 years. Not bad for a single that's 24 years old! Breaking the record for Christmas music on the regular Billboard chart will be difficult however, even for Mariah. Alvin and the Chipmunks' high-pitched classic the “The Chipmunk Song” was number one for four weeks in a row back in 1958.