Normally, we wouldn’t write about minimalist posters twice in one day, but these pictogram film posters by graphic designer Viktor Hertz are just too good not to share. As is always the case when a designer distills an entire movie into one image, it’s fascinating to see what icon he chose to represent each film. “I try to bring a twist to it, and not get too simple, he explained to My Modern Met. “I want to be unpredictable and entertaining, and make something that communicates the film instantly, yet in an original way.” Click through to check out a gallery of his work, which is available for purchase on Zazzle.
Donald Trump is “seriously thinking about” a run for president because he thinks the U.S. has become “the laughingstock of the world.” Also, he’d sure like to tell China, “You’re fired.” This looks promising. [CNN]
In the year since he was branded “too fat too fly,” Kevin Smith has lost 65 pounds. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t still pissed off about the incident. [Time]
Dr. Dre will join Eminem in a performance at this weekend’s Grammy Awards. Does this mean Detox really is almost ready for release? Bob Dylan will also take the stage Sunday for a collaboration with Mumford & Sons. [MTV News]
Big news, comic fans: Spider-Man is joining the Fantastic Four. Beginning March 23, he’ll replace the Human Torch, who died last month. Here’s hoping he fares better on the page than on the stage. [AP]
Emma Watson has signed on to star opposite Logan Lerman in the big-screen adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Stephen Chbosky, the book’s author, will direct the film, and John Malkovich is the executive producer. [Digital Spy]
Today at Flavorpill, we were mesmerized by Amy Sedaris’s new YouTube Channel. We got a look at the first image of the cast of X-Men: First Class and the first action shot from the new Spider-Man movie. We got a good chuckle out of one of the entries in the city’s Taxi of Tomorrow competition — a suicidal design that requires cyclists to pass through a “taxi tunnel.” We learned about Ben Affleck’s favorite heist films and Amy Poehler’s favorite sad movies. We were sad to see that hoarders are not as much fun in real life as they are on TV. We got all warm and fuzzy looking at this photo of Elton John and his husband David Furnish posing with their new baby boy. We feared Rob Lowe. We wondered if a film adaptation of O will do better than Primary Colors did. And finally, we loved The Hairpin’s take on where the now 30-something members of the Baby-sitters Club would be today — particularly Claudia Kishi and Logan Bruno.
1. Check out a full list of last night’s 2011 Golden Globe winners here. Sadly, Laura Linney — who won the award for best performance by an actress in a TV series, comedy or musical for her role on Showtime’s The Big C — missed the ceremony because the day before the show, her father died of lung cancer. [via THR]
2. “There was an amusing progression on this year’s Golden Globes red-carpet show: Things moved from, ‘She looks great!’ to, ‘….Hmm, she looks….interesting’ to ‘Huh?!’ to ‘TILDA SWINTON!’ to the two of us throwing up our hands and making the ‘touchdown’ sign when Jennifer Lopez alighted from her limo.” – The always hilarious Fug Girlshave a slideshow of last night’s best and worst outfits
3. A memo from Steve Jobs was sent to all Apple employees today, stating that Jobs will take a medical leave of absence so that the CEO can “focus on [his] health.” [via Gizmodo]
4. James Franco and Anne Hathaway will meet with Academy Awards producers this week to begin fleshing out their material for the show. According to the show’s longtime head writer Bruce Vilanch, we can expect to see both a spoof of Black Swan and the arm chopping scene from 127 Hours. [via Digital Spy]
5. In case you missed it, this week’s SNL Digital Short featured Pee-wee Herman on a bender with Andy Samberg (the “Tequila” dance is involved), Anderson Cooper getting whacked by a chair, and an intervention. [via Slashfilm]
Oh boy. Just when you thought everyone possible had weighed in on Julie Taymor and Bono’s disastrous Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark… it’s time for Glenn Beck to have his say. And guess what? The Fox News host and amateur cultural critic freaking loves the musical, thinks that New Yorkers (with French accents, of course!) hate it because they’re snobby, and goes on to explain how it’s a huge, brilliant metaphor for everything he believes. As Benjamin Sutton at The L Magazine sums it up, according to Beck, “Turn Off the Dark, it turns out, is a musical blockbuster about the American academic-scientific industry’s god complex, the lies surrounding global warming rhetoric, and the villainous research funded by big government.” Aha. Listen to the whole, surreal rant after the jump and follow along as we pick out Beck’s craziest theories and funniest words of praise.
Christmas may almost be upon us, but viral videos never sleep. Hence the newest creation from the jokesters at Taiwan’s Next Media Animated — a very brief send-up of Julie Taymor and Bono’s Broadway catastrophe, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Prepare yourself for a superhero hospital in which a doctor has to revive a nearly dead “Script,” angry fans shaking fists at the show’s poster, and dudes in suits pulling a giant plug.
1. Joss Whedon had the first crack at the Buffy reboot, but turned it down to work on other projects. [via Vulture]
2. Despite mixed critical reviews and tons of technical complications, producers announced yesterday that Julie Taymor’s Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark has already sold more than $1 million worth of advance tickets. [via EW]
3. ABC has plans for a new show starring Tony winner Idina Menzel that will be “a mother-daughter relationship drama in the vein of Gilmore Girls.” But with singing. [via Deadline]
4. Frank Darabont writer/director of AMC’s newbie hit Walking Dead has reportedly let go of all the show’s writers and is looking to assign future scripts to freelancers. This is allegedly not unheard of in the biz, but wouldn’t you be so pissed off? [via Deadline]
5. Speaking of pissed, we hear that Ryan Seacrest just signed a three-year, $60 million deal to continue on the radio with Clear Channel. He’ll also help them create new on-air and digital content and launch a new record label. [via NYND]
1. Leslie Nielsen died on Sunday at a hospital near his home in Fort Lauderdale where he was being treated for pneumonia; the Canadian-born actor was 84. Read his New York Times obit here.
2. Everything did not go as planned at last night’s opening preview of Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. While the New York Times calls it “a little rocky,” Michael Riedel in the New York Postsays it was “an epic flop” as the show’s “high-tech gadgetry went completely awry amid a dull score and baffling script.”
3. Strange career move, but we’ll DVR it: After getting ditched by MTV, British It Girl Alexa Chung is getting her own PBS show. On Thrift America, she will “comb the country’s consignment shops, garage sales, and flea markets for old clothing and other potential treasures to use in creative endeavors.” [via Vulture]
4. According to the BBC, “A retired electrician in southern France who worked for Pablo Picasso says he has hundreds of previously unknown works by the artist.” He claims that Picasso gave him the art as a gift, but Picasso’s family is not buying it.
5. After releasing a new album less than six months ago, Wolf Parade has announced that the band is going on an “indefinite hiatus.” [via Consequence of Sound]
The Spider-man musical is about to open after eight years in the making — and we can’t say we’re too thrilled about it! The project, helmed by Julie Taymor and composed by Bono and The Edge, has received an amazing amount of negative press and commentary about its delays, dropouts and grandiose nature, all of which might become forgotten history once the show opens to cries of “Genius!” and “Spectacle!” There’s no denying that the show will be a feat, and perhaps a greatly-enjoyable one. But for now, there’s still a window of time in which to wonder why it can’t seem to find a way out of critical skepticism and cynicism despite its near-guaranteed awesomeness.
The $70 million dollar project was the subject of a conflicted profile in New York magazine this week, and while reading it, we finally understood why it’s so hard to muster enthusiasm about a project that will surely be majestic in scope and innovative in form. The profile contains a few key quotes that tell you all you need in order to understand why the Broadway world isn’t rallying behind this show with optimism, but rather plaguing it with cynicism — sometimes in contradictory ways.
