Yesterday James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar became the top-grossing film of all time. As Entertainment Weekly notes, more North Americans saw Phantom Menace in the theater than have seen Avatar so far, and it currently ranks 26th all-time when you adjust for inflation. But who’s counting, right?

So we’re going to run with the idea that even though there of plenty of people who think this film is just Pocahontas in a different color palette, you’ll be glad to hear that the sequel is already in pre-production (Cameron wants to make it a trilogy). Before you get too excited, remember who we’re dealing with here: “According to the source, some behind the scenes technical crew have signed on for three to five year contracts, just in case it runs long.”

1. While he’s not being killed off, Sal “sexual harassment” Romano will not be returning for Mad Men‘s fourth season. [via Vulture]
2. Holy Hogwarts: Thanks to Avatar‘s crazy box office numbers, the next Harry Potter films will be released in 3-D. [via Reuters]
3. George Lucas is producing an “untitled, top-secret CGI-animated” musical about fairies. [via THR]
4. NBC has picked up a pilot from Conan O’Brien‘s production company. It’s a “new take on a law show with a larger-than-life character at the center.” The project’s unofficial (and deliciously ironic) name: Justice. [via THR]
5. Merce Cunningham Co.‘s 35-city farwell tour will begin February 12 in Columbus, Ohio and end with a New Year’s Eve 2011 performance at the Park Avenue Armory. [via NYT]

Bonus link: Is Indie Dead?

1. Finally: A Lost promo with some footage from season six — granted, it’s just one frame. [via E! Online]
2. What’s on David Bowie‘s iPod? Everything from African sounds to Arthur Russell to Chinese folk music. [via Guardian]
3. During a recent visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a woman fell into The Actor, a 6 feet by 4 feet work of art by Pablo Picasso, causing a six-inch tear. Experts expect a full recovery in time for an upcoming exhibition of some 250 works by the artist which opens April 27. [via ArtsBeat]
4. The Hurt Locker — not Avatar — took home the top award at last night’s Producer’s Guild of America awards. In the past five years, this winner has gone on to nab the Oscar for Best Picture three times. [via Vulture]
5. We’ve been waiting three years for this: Indie rock supergroup The New Pornographers will put out their fifth studio album, Together, on May 4. [via Matablog]

Bonus link: Sex Explained By Pens

This morning The British Academy for Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) nominations were announced and An Education, Avatar, and The Hurt Locker are leading the pack. You may be thinking, “Why do I care about the British awards?” Well, the BAFTAs have an uncanny way of foreshadowing what will happen at the Oscars. Last year, the nominations for the major categories were almost identical, as well as the winners — the only deviation was Best Actor which went to Mickey Rourke at the BAFTAs and Sean Penn at the Oscars. If the British Academy and the American Academy are riding the same brain wave again this year, it’s a safe bet that the award outcomes will be similar.

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Today at Flavorpill, we celebrated National Cheese Lover’s Day with a nice Manchego. We were impressed by Paste Magazine’s Songs for Haiti project. We were surprised, nay slightly suspicious, to learn that Cindy McCain is lending her image to the “No H8 Campaign,” a photo project in protest of the passage of Proposition 8. We eyed this new Shepard Fairey print. We remembered why we like Neil Gaiman so darn much. We reviewed the short list for this year’s Foreign-Language Oscar — it’s the category that always messes up our ballot. After reading this filmmaker’s story from Haiti, we realized that there’s not much that the iPhone can’t do. We were confused by the fact that PETA just awarded James Cameron its “2010 Proggy Award for Outstanding Feature Film” for Avatar. They know it’s all CGI, right? And finally, we entered the magical mystery chambers for a Wu Tang vs. Beatles showdown. We’ll listen to the 27 tracks, and let you know who wins.

Oh boy. When we read this morning that there’s an online application inviting users to Avatar themselves, we started feeling a bit wicked. Unsatisfied with seeing our own mugs in Na’vi form, we compiled a mess of celebrities whose antics, features, or religious affiliations have always seemed to exist in a dimension once removed. Holla, James Cameron, because we’ve got some ideas for the Avatar sequel. Our blue-est findings after the jump.

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1. Last night was an Avatar sweep at the Golden Globes, which is pretty interesting when you consider that the last sci-fi film even in the running was 1982′s E.T. [via LAT]
2. “While the vast majority of the characters [Conan] O’Brien introduced are said to owned by NBC, it’s unclear who controls Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the crass canine puppet that is perhaps O’Brien’s most popular recurring bit.” Also of note: Which celebrities are on Team Conan. [via THR]
3. And now for some positive late-night feud fallout: Friday Night Lights will be returning to NBC on April 30, which is a few months ahead of schedule. [via WSJ]
4. Thanks to the magic of Google Streetview, you can peep Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne taking a bath in Oklahoma City back in 2007. [via NME]
5. So Young Kim will direct Paul Dano and Jon Heder (aka Napoleon Dynamite) in a new flick about a struggling indie rocker dealing with his divorce.

Bonus link: Say Anything puppet tribute

1. Behold! Jimmy Fallon‘s inevitable follow-up to “Neil Young Sings the ‘Fresh Prince’ Theme” — Neil Young sings “Pants on the Ground.” (video) [via TwentyFourBit]
2. This weekend, a vacant Tower Records store in the East Village will host performances, panel discussions, and conceptual art installations that lament industry troubles and the demise of music stores. [via WSJ]
3. Did Avatar rip off Soviet science fiction writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky? [via The Guardian]
4. Fans of the Big Mac and couture rejoice: meet McFancy, an “upmarket temporary McDonald’s store that launches at Fashion Weeks across the world.” [via Refinery29]
5. Hoping to launch a new franchise, Lionsgate has acquired the worldwide rights to the screen adaptation of What To Expect When You’re Expecting. Remember, this is the same studio that does the Saw movies… [via Screen Daily]

Bonus link: Do hipsters really hate Converses?

Today at Flavorpill, we were taught to fear hoodies — and all of the scary things they can conceal. We felt conflicted by Conan’s decision; we appreciate his chutzpah, but we hate to see him go. (Perhaps he’ll find a way to get revenge? Also: What do you think this will do for tonight’s ratings?) We wondered how those Jersey Shore kids got an iPhone app before we did. We listened to what we think might be a new M.I.A. track. We loved the idea of modern movies as vintage video games. We found it funny that the Vatican is coming out against Avatar. We streamed Spoon’s new album, Transference (it’s not officially out until January 19). We paid stop-motion homage to Super Mario 3 — one of the only games we ever managed to beat. We looked for streets that have our name. And finally we realized that our TV is trying to kill us. That said, we will be watching Betty White’s new show on TV Land. It’s the closest to a new episode of The Golden Girls that we’ll ever get and worth the risk.

As you probably have heard (and seen) by now, the success of James Cameron’s most recent “epic” Avatar has given him yet another seat in the $1 billion clubhouse. But is this accolade well-deserved and more than just the result of hiked theater prices for the sake of 3D? (Ticket sales certainly have nothing to do with this axed sex scene.)

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