Today at Flavorpill, we fell in love with these minimalist avatars of some of fictional history’s greatest good-natured robots. We read a series of emails detailing Julian Assange’s stalkery courtship of a teenager in his pre-Wikileaks days. We felt less threatened about our future job security thanks to the news that half as many teens currently operate their own blog now as compared to 2006. We enjoyed The Observer‘s list of the 9 most off-brand Christmas movies ever. We were scandalized by the sexism, racism, and general awfulness in these 48 advertisements from the good old days. We watched 10 celebrities confront their Saturday Night Live doppelgangers. We wanted to snag one of these Pantone iPhone cases, but couldn’t decide on which color. We learned some surprising things about Home Alone on the movie’s 20th anniversary — including the fact that Robert De Niro was originally offered Joe Pesci’s role. We found out what it would look like if Chris Brown and Rihanna were one person. And finally, we spent way too long getting lost in these old photos of New York City, courtesy of The Museum of the City of New York.

Alright, we can all agree that Chris Brown needs to rebrand — but why, of all people, as Kanye?? Brown released a new single today, “Sing Like Me” with this Kanye-styled album art attire. We put this evidence together with the art for his upcoming album, Graffiti, and then the tragic truth became apparent. We blame Kanye image consultant Ibn Jasper.

Photos of the Chris copying Kanye scandal after the jump.

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Today at Flavorpill, we ate some really tasty Lego sushi. We were happy to hear that the Getty Institute will work with Egypt to help conserve and manage the tomb of Tutankhamen — we still need to see him! We discovered the flu shot finder, which will make our moms happy. We watched a man shooting bananas out of his nose. No, that’s not a euphemism for something else. We read Nick Hornby’s take on Levi Johnston’s accidental celebrity. We were depressed by My Morning Jacket’s upcoming appearance on American Dad. We decided that Rihanna and Chris Brown are definitely just toying with us. We enjoyed Jason Reitman’s diagram — and felt kind of embarrassed for our kind. And finally, we wished Sesame Street a very happy 40th birthday. We wish we’d been around back when Cookie Monster smoked a pipe!

Chris Brown and Rihanna are doing the media circuit this week, breaking their silence about the domestic violence in their former relationship to help promote the new albums they have out in the coming weeks. Brown has a 30-minute segment for MTV which airs tomorrow; Rihanna beat him to the punch (too soon?) with a two-part interview with Diane Sawyer that just aired this morning. The full thing runs on 20/20 tomorrow night.

Highlights after the jump.

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Today at Flavorpill, we loved this list of of the 14 most awesome fake products from The Simpsons. We hallucinated. We checked out some beautiful portraits on gravestones. We traced the history of TV’s cougar moment — which includes a shout out to Flo “Kiss My Grits” Castleberry . We took a peek at 12 of the world’s coolest packaging designs. We looked at Chris Brown’s cover art for Graffiti, complete with electric guitar. We watched Heath Ledger’s DirecTV commercial. We booked a room with a view in the Spanish Space Hotel. And finally, we enjoyed some new Leonard Cohen. Listen after the jump, and let us know what you think.

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After a much watched over domestic abuse scandal involving his ex, Rihanna, Chris Brown has spent the last nine months trying to wiggle his way back into the public’s favor. Transformation being the name of the game, but public apologies, viral videos, and community service hours have come and gone with little avail. And even as his songs have risen on the charts, his public image has remained tarnished.

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We’ve got a month until we can really say that the Wait is Ova, but today, the wait gets a little easier. In anticipation of 11/23, Rihanna released Rated R‘s first single, “Russian Roulette” at 11:23 this morning.

Rihanna’s ubiquitous radio presence could be measured in gold standard: her 2007 sophomore album, Good Girl Gone Bad produced four Billboard Hot 100 singles (“Umbrella,” “Please Don’t Stop The Music,” “Shut Up and Drive,” and “Hate That I Love You”) while the 2008 re-release, Good Girl Gone Bad: Reloaded offered up three more (“Take A Bow,” “If I Never See You Again,” and “Disturbia”). And since having bled her album dry, her icy hooks (and, sometimes, just looks) have become something of a standard on hip hop’s super hits.

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1. TV on the Radio is taking a year-long break from touring and recording to work on other projects. [via NME]
2. The official statement: “Oprah is very appreciative that Chris Brown performed at her school but she takes domestic abuse very seriously. She hopes he gets the counseling he needs.” [via TMZ]
3. Jane Fonda, Wallace Shawn, and David Byrne are protesting the selection of Tel Aviv as this year’s Toronto Film Festival spotlight city. [via NYT]
4. A young graffiti artist was arrested after taking a £500,000 box of pencils from Damien Hirst’s latest installation at the Tate Britain gallery. [via Daily Mail]
5. Tyler Perry will write, direct, and produce an adaptation of Ntozake Shange’s 1975 play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. [via The Wrap]

Today at Flavorpill, we liked everything, including iconic 20th century photography, better once it’s been reimagined with Legos. We rooted for Das Racist in their cartoon battle with the New Yorker. We applauded innovative uses for VHS tapes and floppy disks (now if we could only repurpose our Beanie Babies.) We invested in deodorant to evade the Hawaii 5-O. We looked back on a time when bears roamed Manhattan and the whole island cost $12. We shook our heads at Kermit and Miss Piggy’s latest duet — Kermit, you can do so much better!  Call us. We felt like we were Facebook friends with Charles Saatchi because he told us 30 things about himself. We totes toted around a tote bag made of a Target billboard. We spreken ze prejudice. We thanked PopCandy for going to the trouble of making us this list of Labor Day weekend TV marathons. Finally, we bore witness to Chris Brown’s bowtie and all the important revelations it made. Hey, bowtie, do you know Aretha Franklin’s crazy hat?

1. Chris Brown’s mea culpa appearance on Larry King Live fails to clear the air. [via Gawker]
2. Guy Ritchie has signed on to direct a live action adaption of DC Comics’ Lobo, which focuses on an alien bounty hunter. [via Variety]
3. In a posthumous memoir due out September 14, Ted Kennedy reveals his remorse over Chappaquiddick. [via Salon]
4. A new film from the producers behind Next Day Air will spotlight the jerkin’ dance movement. [via THR]
5. Hitler’s reaction to the Oasis split. [YouTube via @gideonyago]