Earlier this week, we discovered a set of lovely golden Lord of the Rings-inspired nails over at io9, and we have to admit that we’ve been daydreaming about our perfect literary dream manicures ever since. After all, we’ve already gushed over (and failed at trying to replicate) these awesome Twin Peaks nails, so it’s only fair we give a little love to the literary side of fingernail-based super-fandom. Because if you’re serious about being a literary nerd, why not extend your love of books to the very tools that let you turn the pages and proclaim your great taste in reading material to the world all at once? Click through to get inspired by a few of our favorite works of literary nail art, and let us know which books you’re dying to have at your fingertips in the comments!
Read More »
Today at Flavorpill, we imaged what this teddy bear skin rug would feel like beneath our feet. We learned about the science behind bursting water balloons in this video. We were pretty impressed by the art of Jello origami. We wondered if microwavable footwear would be the next Snuggie sensation. We tried to tell the difference between Lady Gaga and Jem in this fun quiz posted at Mental Floss. We were glad to hear that Lindsay Lohan got gold stars on her probation report. We read about the return of Atari. We weren’t shocked to learn about this Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark countersuit against director Julie Taymor. We counted the werewolves in this trailer for FDR: American Badass!. We enjoyed this solo performance by Adam Ben Ezra covering the Mad Men theme, live and on upright bass. We approved of this Lord of the Rings manicure. And finally, we saw where all the trees in the U.S. were located and determined that the Midwest won’t be enjoying a shady picnic anytime soon.
Today at Flavorpill, we enjoyed Ann Powers’ thoughtful analysis of the growing popularity of the word “swag.” We watched the pilot episode of Showtime’s new big business dark comedy, House of Lies, which stars Don Cheadle and Kristen Bell and makes its official debut on January 8. We were sad to learn of former SNL writer Joe Bodolai’s apparent suicide. We got a look at the tracklist for Glee’s forthcoming Michael Jackson tribute episode. We revisited some of the best TV lines of 2011. We got a look at a few new pieces of concept art for The Wachowskis’ film adaptation of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. We listened to what famed filmmaker Errol Morris had to say about the issue of truth in photography. We imagined that getting this epic Lord of the Rings back tattoo inked was pretty painful. We were fascinated by the stories behind the picks in Mental Floss’ roundup of the 25 most powerful songs of the past 25 years. We were impressed by this sculptural time-lapse of artist Katie Grinnan doing yoga. We wished that a red panda would randomly decide to move into our house. We weren’t surprised to hear that AMC has decided to renew its popular new Western series Hell on Wheels for another season. And finally, we wanted to take a shower with Dave Eggers — or rather, a monologue told to Dave Eggers by his shower curtain.
Welcome to “Trailer Park,” our regular Friday feature where we collect the week’s new trailers all in one place and do a little “judging a book by its cover,” ranking them from worst to best and taking our best guess at what they may be hiding. This week’s seven trailers include several big-franchise sequels and (sort of) prequels (we think); check ‘em all out after the jump.
Read More »
For those of you who grew up watching the 1977 animated version of The Hobbit, this on-going series depicting the characters from Lord of Rings by Mexican illustrator and graphic designer Francisco Guerrero will create some serious feelings of nostalgia. At the same time, Guerrero’s animated take on Tolkien is much more Disney-inspired than what we saw in the classic Rankin/Bass special. It’s also obvious that he’s taking visual cues from Peter Jackson’s film adaptations — especially with Gandalf and Gollum. Click through to check out Guerrero’s illustrations of Frodo, Samwise, and the rest of the gang, which we spotted thanks to our friends over at The Mary Sue. Read More »
Today at Flavorpill, we were amazed by the wealth of Perfect Strangers fan art to be found on the Internet. We discovered that Charleston has more hot people than any other American city, at least according to Travel + Leisure. We were surprised that Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was the both most- and least-favored Person of the Year in TIME’s annual poll. We couldn’t believe that Russell Brand is supposedly getting his own animated series — will this trend ever stop? We met the “Krampus,” a mythical monster so scary that it was banned from Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations Christmas Special. We were impressed by the amount of detail in this Lord of the Rings-inspired nail art. We saw some new work from Banksy in Liverpool. We wondered how quickly these mini models of Jeff Koons’ BMW art car will sell out. We looked at some of the highlights of the 2011 Black List. We were excited to hear that funny lady Rachel Dratch is working on a book that will come out this spring. We wanted to take a bite out of a few of these brains. We couldn’t believe that an escalator that features the Star Wars opening crawl exists in Tel Aviv. And finally, we were thoroughly depressed after spotting this visualization of student loan debt in 1990 vs 2000 vs 2011 on Mother Jones’ tumblr. Now you can be too!
Ah, to be a film character, and have everything you say come out scripted and pithy, down to your final breath. In recent weeks, we’ve been inspired by a great list of the last words of 25 geniuses that has been making the rounds, so this weekend we decided to explore the last words of what are arguably the creations of genius: fictional characters from some of our favorite movies. Click through to see our picks for the 25 greatest last words of characters in movies, from robots to witches to businessmen, as they die in heroic, tragi-comic, or just plain emotional scenes. Since we know how very many of these there are, be sure to let us know if we’ve missed any of your own favorites in the comments.
Read More »
Brace yourself: soon Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” will be invading your brain all over again. James Cameron is releasing a 3D version of his sinking ship Titanic, and a new cut of the film means that a new poster has been released. We can appreciate the classic approach the studio is going for — particularly since the movie’s original one sheet always appeared as though the ship was about to devour Kate and Leo like Jaws — but it’s not the most flattering thing we’ve ever seen. The overused “Experience It Like Never Before” also doesn’t help. Cameron’s movie won the Best Picture Oscar in 1997, which got us thinking about other Academy Award winners that had terrible poster art.
Looking at film poster history overall, it’s interesting to note that Hollywood used to really play up the fact that they were adapting novels by featuring books in the artwork. Before the 1960s, the focus on hand draw images and more abstract concepts populated one sheets. Around the time of movies like Midnight Cowboy, stark photorealism became the focus. As frustrating as it is to survey the cruddier examples of poster art over time, movies like Kramer vs. Kramer were refreshing to note — they resisted the urge to do the obvious and rip the picture of the happy family in half. Not many studios would do the same these days.
Click through for a look back at the best of the worst of the best. Read More »
Who hasn’t wished they could disappear into the novel they’re reading, or visit the world of their favorite film? People, it’s possible — at least sometimes. When we first heard that we were going to be able to visit a complete Hobbiton next year, we admit that the nerds in us got pretty excited. Not only that, but we started daydreaming about all our favorite fictional locales that we desperately wish we could visit. We’ve already given you a guide to mythical vacations, but now for something slightly more attainable: a list of fictional places you can actually visit in real life, whether because they’ve been created for the purpose or because they’ve actually existed all along. Click through to get a few ideas for your next vacation, and let us know which of these you’d most like to visit in the comments.
Read More »
When you need to get away from reality, sometimes leaving your hometown doesn’t get you far enough. Fortunately, that place just outside reality, the place that exists only on celluloid, in books, and in our minds, is home to some of the most seductive vacation spots with the power to transport you into another world entirely.
It’s also where the worst of purgatories reside, so you won’t want to get too deeply lost in that vast vortex of imagination; we wouldn’t want you to spend your two weeks off stumbling through H.P. Lovecraft’s foreboding Arkham, nor would we recommend traveling all the way to the Little Prince’s B-612, which, other than a vain rose, a few small volcanoes, and some weed-like plant life, doesn’t have too much to offer visitors. We’ve gotten lost in bad books and movies and comic books before, too, so we’ve put together a selective insider’s Baedeker to only the very best imaginary vacation spots we wish we could visit. Follow our guide, below the jump, and tell us where else you would go.
Read More »
