1. Public service announcement: Despite what you may have heard, Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy are both still alive. [via NY Daily News]

2. Defense attorneys for Dr. Conrad Murray, who stands accused of Michael Jackson‘s murder, will argue that the King of Pop committed suicide, according to prosecutors on the case. [via AP]

3. Grant McCune, the special effects artist who created the shark in Jaws and won an Academy Award for his work on Star Wars, has died of pancreatic cancer at age 67. The model maker also contributed to other geek classics, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Spaceballs, and Caddyshack. [via Digital Spy]

4. Chris Brown and Raz B are having a Twitter war over — sigh — Rihanna. Following a string of tweets praising Rihanna, Raz B wrote, “I’m just sittin here thinking how can n—as like [Eric Benet] and [Chris Brown] disrespect women as intelligent as Halle Berry, Rihanna.” Classy as ever, Brown responded with some homophobia and then freaked out over the suggestion that he’s homophobic. [via MTV]

5. When Oprah Winfrey‘s OWN network debuts on Saturday, it will be available in 85 million homes. That’s five million more than its predecessor, Discovery Health, but 15 million less than the original Discovery Channel. [via WSJ]

Bonus link: Muppets with People Eyes

1. Owen Wilson is Woody Allen‘s new muse for his next project, but the jury’s still out on whether he will be starring opposite Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. [via THR]
2. From Thurston Moore‘s new blog: “kim [Gordon] and i will be recording a trio LP w/ yoko [Ono] this year with blindfolds.” [via TwentyFourBit]
3. Is Dave Eggers is the best candidate for editorship of The Paris Review? [via The Millions]
4. Andrew Lloyd Webber wants to save Abbey Road studios. (Is it just us, or does this make Paul McCartney look bad?) [via Guardian]
5. A musical theater adaptation of Pedro Almodovar‘s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, which director Bartlett Sher and the filmmaker have been developing in workshops for over a year, will debut in Lincoln Center Theater‘s 2010-11 season. [via NYT]

Bonus Giveaway: We use Yahoo! Search to help find the top culture stories of the day. Now we’re giving you the chance to play editor, and you just might win a trip to Coachella.

Use Yahoo! Search to find an interesting link about Woody Allen, and drop it below in the comments. Our favorite entry will receive The Woody Allen Collection, Set 1 (Annie Hall/Manhattan/Sleeper/Bananas/Interiors/Stardust Memories/Love and Death/Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask), and more importantly, be entered to win a VIP trip for two to Coachella. Topics will be changing throughout the week, so get your search on and keep playing to increase your chances of winning!

Today at Flavorpill, looking at modern gingerbread houses made us hungry. We wondered where John Lennon’s Hollywood Walk of Fame star wandered off to. We questioned the faithfulness of Robert Downey Jr.’s Sherlock Holmes. We were impressed by both Rihanna and Jay-Z’s sticktoitiveness. We strongly disliked the idea of a warm-fuzzy web — but that might be because we were born before email. We wanted Gwen Stefani’s cable-inspired jacket. But not as much as this giant pickle jar replica. We met Gregor Brown — an existentially-challenged not-so-distant relative of Charlie. We counted down Hipster Runoff’s Most Authentic/Relevant/Successful Artists+Bands of the Decade. We took in some cool outdoor installations in Berlin. We watched the teaser trailer for Marmaduke, who is voiced by Owen Wilson. It’s not good. And finally, we used some of 2009′s catchphrases and buzzwords. Aporkalypse, birther, meep, sexting — we’ve gotta use ‘em while we still can.

1. Julian Casablancas is releasing a cover of “I Wish It Was Christmas Today” — which was originally performed by the cast of Saturday Night Live — as a single. [via NME]
2. The Berenstain Bears are getting the film treatment courtesy of Shawn Levy, director of the Night at the Museum movies; it will be a mix of live action and animation. [via USA Today]
3. After watching Paranormal Activity, the Blair Witch filmmakers felt inspired to pitch a third film to Lionsgate. They were not involved with Blair Witch 2. [via Vulture]
4. Owen Wilson will voice Marmaduke in an upcoming film adaptation of the comic strip. [via Hollywood Reporter]
5. It turns out German people hate 30 Rock even more than middle Americans do. [via Hollywood Reporter]

Perhaps the whole Christmas dinner with the family isn’t your thing, or maybe your religion requests that you stay as far away from the jolly fat man as possible (if that’s the case, we’re jealous) — but either way, there’s a reason why so many hotly-anticipated films open in theaters on Christmas Day … and it’s not so Santa’s elves would have something to do once their long shift finally ended.

Believe it or not, but a lot of people choose to spend their Christmas (which, in some circles, is just another day off from work) at the movies. And if you’re one of those people, then feel free to use the handy cheat sheet after the jump to help you decide what to see.

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So he’s not spending all of his time in the gym: Variety reports that Seth Rogen is behind a new porno-based comedy for Showtime with his good buddy Evan Goldberg (other new Showtime series with A-list talent include Nurse Jackie which stars Edie Falco and United States of Tara from Diablo Cody).

Overexposed Rogen is one of the last members of Judd Apatow’s “Back Pack” that we’d like to see playing a guy running a pornography shop (maybe because he looks too much like a guy running a pornography shop), so we hope this isn’t one of those projects that he plans to write and star in. Knowing that these incestuous funny guys like to keep things in the family, after the jump you’ll find our casting suggestions for him — let us know if you agree with our ranking.

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