Today at Flavorpill, we deconstructed Disney Princesses. We welcomed director (and former Scientologist) Paul Haggis back to the real world. We looked at the first sketches from Stephen King’s upcoming comic book. We judged David Spade. We wanted to walk inside of Richard Serra’s steel sculptures. We daydreamed about the Apple tablet. We made a mental note never to cast Bruce Willis in anything we do. We were frightened by a future filled with rich robot overlords. We liked Tao Lin’s new promotional gimmick. And finally, we laughed at indie stars in Halloween costumes. You’re going to have to click through to find out who that is to the right.

Exciting news: Your latest Flavorpill Mixtape has arrived. Your ears are salivating. Your fingers are ready to click ctrl + left click and “save as.” Ten essential downloads from this past week in music after the jump — all free for the taking! Take a listen, and then leave us a comment with what you think. Read More »

1. Tao Lin and Carles of Hipster Runoff have a new “sound project ” called Jesus Christ (the indie band); listen to their first MP3, “is this really what you want?,” now. [via GvB]
2. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski used Bruce Springsteen song titles to explain the rules of the Internet at a music policy conference. A sample: “The people who built the Internet were working on more than a computer network, they were Working on a Dream. It was a network that was Born to Run in a land of open protocols, (the Promised Land).” [via WSJ]
3. Sony Pictures TV and Mark Burnett are partnering to remake Fantasy Island as a reality show. We doubt it will be a bigger hit than MILF Island. [via Variety]
4. The Swiss Justice Ministry rejected Roman Polanski’s appeal to be released from prison because they think he’s a flight risk. [via HuffPo]
5. Critics say this year’s Turner Prize exhibition is boring. “There’s no sensation, no video, no blood, no outrage.” [via Bloomberg]

Bonus link: The Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator

Carles is the unidentified blogger of the “blog worth blogging about,” Hipsterrunoff.com. He is known for his commentary/analysis of the alternative world, everything from theorizing about Animal Collective/mob mentality to coining the next music trend — GorillaVsBearCore? Chillwave? PitchforkWaveGaze? Yesterday, he started a clothing brand, I Am Carles. There’s even a coinciding merchandise website, IamCarles.com. Items for sale include the I Am Carles men’s/women’s shirt and the option to have your shirt personally delivered by Carles himself. An up and coming designer is taking the internets by storm, and so we decided to investigate via an IM interview. Read More »

“6. sarah and i would ‘bond’ more if she won the contest”

- OK, this is funny but hard to “cover.” Tao Lin’s publishing company Muumuu House Brandon Scott Gorrell held a short story contest with a $7 entry fee. Tao submitted a story under his girlfriend’s allowed his girlfriend to submit a story that he’d given her for eight different reasons, the sixth (and our favorite) which we’ve posted above. He ended up winning the contest and now people are accusing him of embezzlement. Note: She gets to keep the title and prize money. [via the fiction circus via spiersblr]

Update: We just received the corrections above in an email from Tao. He says that The Fiction Circus article is almost entirely incorrect, and that would we should be better fact checkers in the future. Point taken. You can read his account of the whole thing here. There’s also a forum here for participants to air their feelings about the contest; most of them don’t seem pissed off.

1. James Frey and Oprah are totally not fighting — in fact, Oprah even called to bury the hatchet. [via Vanity Fair]

2. Star Trek breaks IMAX records, and our wallets in the process [via Slash Film] (Also: Don’t get fooled like Aziz.)

3. Tao Lin has sold his MySpace page on EBay for $8,100 to an investment banker. [via MOBYLIVES]

4. “Anthony Zuiker, creator of the hit TV series CSI and its two spinoffs, says his new multimedia ‘digi-novel’ will launch a ‘revolution in publishing for the YouTube generation.’” [via USA Today]

5. NPR takes down Outrage review because it names public figures outted in the film [via indieWIRE]

Books: Guillermo Del Toro’s vampire books are so much better than Twilight — or at least that’s what he says. [via Vulture]
Dance/Opera: Clear Channel’s “Underwater Ballet” billboards are pretty, public art. See them in NYC starting May 1. [via LAT]
Design: Adding the “ethics” curve ball to the whole design vs. downturn argument really complicates things, huh? [via Fast Company]
Film: Zach And Miri Make A Porno has been banned in Thailand because it might be too inspirational. Heh. [via Cinema Blend]
Music: Is Jennifer Hudson pregnant? Probs. [via Salon]
Television: For once, the commercials during Lost might confuse you way more than the show. [via THR]
Theatre: Hugh Jackman will star in a Houdini musical on Broadway. He’s already working on the magic routines. [via Broadway World]
Visual Arts: Damien Hirst mounts a large retrospective in Kiev because the audience is “new” and museums are “for dead artists.” [via Seattle Times]
Web: The MySpace co-founder that’s not Tom will step down. [via Reuters]

“Like most autistic people ‘Carles’ looks ‘not at ease’ in society, uses ‘scare quotes’ and ‘vaguely rhetorical questions’ often and naturally, and almost always has a neutral facial expression, even while eating Big Macs. If an influence must be cited it would be MSG, which is inside almost every food product in America, and causes autism, according to some studies.”

- Tao Lin insists to NYU Local that he is not Carles, the man behind Hipster Runoff; he also manages to sneak two plugs for his upcoming novella, Shoplifting from American Apparel (which allegedly explains their entire history), into the interview. Our question for you: has anonymous blogging ever ended well? OK, maybe two questions. Does this controversy make you feel old and kind of out of too? We had to have our intern explain it.