1. Paul McCartney has announced that he will release a new album in February that will feature guest appearances by Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton and a mix of covers of “songs he was inspired by during his childhood,” as well as two original compositions. [via NME]
2. In case you’re curious, here are the results of a yearly demographic survey of Broadway audiences. The stat that we find the most interesting: The average age of the Broadway theatergoer was 44 years. [via Pop Culture Brain]
3. Regardless of what yesterday’s Twitter rumors might have led you to believe, Bon Jovi was not found dead from cardiac arrest in a New Jersey hotel. He’s actually alive, and making sort of funny signs about it. [via The Daily What]
4. If you could use some help waking up this morning, you can now listen to “Stupid Hoe,” the second single off of Nicki Minaj’s forthcoming Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded album, here.
5. Ryan Gosling has joined the growing list of celebrities, which also includes Zooey Deschanel and Alicia Silverstone, who have publicly asked McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner to step in and prevent his company from using battery hens to source its eggs and other animal products. [via Jezebel]
Bonus Buzz: Super-Nerdy Snow Sculptures
For all the remakes and reboots and 3-D blockbusters, 2011 was a great year for film actors, with a wealth of terrific performances for us to choose from. What’s more, in sharp contrast to most years in recent memory, there was a bumper crop of terrific roles for great actresses — a trend that we’d like to see stick around for a while. After the jump, we’ll tell you about some of the best performances we saw this year, and why we’re still talking about them. Read More »
Where do you like to string your tinsel and LED lights? On your house? On your tree? On your body? This time of year, holiday parties and city streets are overwhelmed with costumes parodying Christmas’s jolliest bearer of gifts. Inspired by Katy Perry’s opening monologue ensemble from the latest installment of SNL, we’ve decided to take a look at an earthlier, rarer costume alternative — the Christmas tree. It’s pretty, it’s bright, it smells good. What’s not to love? Dangle a few ornaments from your ears, coat yourself in lights, and stick a star on your forehead — you’ll light up any office party with an accessible power outlet. The following celebrities know what’s up; take note from some intentional and accidental Christmas tree costumes after the jump. Read More »
Every Wednesday in December, Flavorwire will take a look back at the year in film — the stories, the performances, the movies that we were talking about in 2011. For this week, let’s revisit some of the year’s movie controversies, shall we?
We film folk can get worked up pretty easily, so while we found plenty of things to get all a-tizzy about in 2011, the assembled list of 2011′s film controversies doesn’t exactly read like end-of-the-world, stop-the-presses stuff. But these things are important to us! We’re easily excitable! Thus, ratings and posters and Oscars and Darth Vader’s scream were well worth talking about — then, and now. Join us after the jump to relive some of the year’s very big deals. Read More »
Artists Tom Haugomat and Bruno Mangyoku have created a minimalist video tribute to Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive. Set to the breathy track the director used in his first film, Bronson — Glass Candy’s “Digital Versicolour” — the duo have included all of the Ryan Gosling movie’s recognizable images in their animation: the toothpick, the watch, the jacket, and of course, the sullen violence. It’s only a minute long, and really — what other endorsement do you need here? Click on for more. Read More »
Today at Flavorpill, we looked at some Ryan Gosling-approved decorating ideas for our apartment. We wondered if it would be more pleasant to work in a fancy shed than a cubicle. We couldn’t decide which we found more confusing: the fact that Hanson is possibly launching their own beer or that the littlest brother is now a dead ringer for Wayne Coyne. We loved today’s Google Doodle, an illustration inspired by The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in honor of Mark Twain’s 176th birthday. We were glad not to be Aung Zaw Oo’s body. We tried to imagine why anyone would want to own a set of Hitler’s swastika-emblazoned sheets. We agreed with author Karen Russell that Bill Murray would make a good Chief Bigtree in the forthcoming TV adaptation of Swamplandia!. We were happy to see that hi-res versions of John James Audubon’s pretty bird pictures are now online thanks to the University of Pittsburgh. And finally, we watched an amazing time-lapse video of the construction of the incredible Maurizio Cattelan retrospective that’s currently up at the Guggenheim. We’re curious how long it’s going to take to bring it all down when the show closes in January.
Today at Flavorpill, we watched a hilarious clip of Miss Piggy, Kermit the Frog, Michael Stipe, and Martin Short playing “Password” on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. We were shocked to learn that Marc Jacobs’ entire spring 2012 collection was stolen from a train leaving Paris for London. We were not-so-subtly reminded why spoilers are bad thanks to these propaganda posters. We wished that more authors would make like Ann Patchett and open up their own bookstores. We were amazed by how this stylish apartment looks, even though it’s furnished completely in cardboard. We found this “walkable roller coaster” in Germany kind of baffling. We found it pretty amusing that our friends over at BuzzFeed organized a protest against People Magazine’s selection of Bradley Cooper as the 2011 Sexiest Man of the Year (and we completely agree with them that Ryan Gosling would have been a better choice). We were super excited to hear that Kristen Schaal is going to be in a few episodes of 30 Rock this season. And finally, after years of waiting, we got to see what Beyoncé’s wedding dress looked like. Thanks to a super-sized train, it did not disappoint.
Today at Flavorpill, we watched astronauts fall on the moon. We learned the scientific reason why most leftovers don’t taste as good. We met a hippo named Humphrey who mauled his keeper to death, as well as some other much friendlier exotic animals. We looked at some of LIFE magazine’s self-proclaimed “worst” covers. We wondered what this impressive looking Game of Thrones cake actually tastes like — ditto this Ryan Gosling pancake. We thought this tilt-shift video of Belgium was totally adorable. We wanted to give Jason Segel a hug after a 7-year-old critic declared that his face was the worst part of The Muppets. We were impressed by a portrait of Charles Darwin that’s made up from hundreds of stenciled barrel monkeys. We found this analysis of the name-to-title ratios of various authors fascinating. We were frightened by a few of these extreme cigarette holders from the ’50s. And finally, we were thrilled to be a part of Mental Floss’ roundup of the all-time most popular posts from 21 wonderful websites.
Brad Pitt is the latest Hollywood star to threaten to leave the spotlight and has given a three-year timetable to make his exit. The actor — fresh off some stellar reviews for his role in Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life — wants to adopt more of a producer’s role. “I am really enjoying the producing side and development of stories and putting those pieces together. Getting stories to the plate that might have had a tougher times otherwise,” he recently told Australia’s 60 Minutes. Pitt’s already found his place in the producer’s chair, working behind-the-scenes on Malick’s movie and past efforts like The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, as well as the upcoming World War Z and Steve McQueen’s Twelve Years a Slave. It’s hard to imagine a Hollywood without the likable actor. If he does follow through on his word, we hope he’ll still make an appearance every so often. History proves, however, that the acting bug is a pesky one and most screen stars renege on their promises to quit for good. Click past the break for a history of other actors that wanted to say goodbye. Read More »
The filmmaker notorious for his meticulous and slow-moving filmography now has four movies in the making, with two recently announced titles both starring Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett. Tree of Life director Terrence Malick is currently working on IMAX documentary Voyage of Time — which will undoubtedly be some major cosmic eye candy — and a project called The Burial (for now, anyway) with Javier Bardem amongst other topliners. Now, the Thin Red Line director is setting his sights on Lawless and Knight of Cups, both featuring a stellar cast.
Lawless will star Bale and Blanchett, along with Ryan Gosling, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s Rooney Mara, and newbie Haley Bennett (Marley & Me). Knight of Cups has Bale and Blanchett, plus Isabel Lucas from Tarsem Singh’s upcoming Immortals. No plot details have been released, but both projects will shoot back-to-back in 2012. Pretty amazing for a man who only made four films in 32 years before Tree of Life arrived in theaters, as EW points out. Malick fans: mind blown?
