Today at Flavorpill, we wished Jack Kerouac happy birthday; he was born on this day back in 1922. We added these libraries’ bizarre and extra special collections to our list of things to see in our lifetime. We read this sentence, which contains all 119 words that Tribune CEO Randy Michaels has banned from being uttered on WGN-AM. We thought that the idea of vulva-scented perfume was beyond revolting. We coveted these Dexter-inspired blood-slide coasters. We wished that we could have hung out with Kathryn Bigelow at the Mudd Club circa 1979. We tried to follow all of the affairs in the Boogie Woogie trailer, but failed. But that doesn’t mean we won’t see it. We figured out which drug is the most like our personality thanks to this handy-dandy chart. And finally, we reluctantly welcomed the second coming of Keyboard Cat, Bento, a Fatso lookalike.

There’s nothing quite like this time of year to make us long for an island getaway. White-sand beaches, turquoise sea, tropical flavors, relaxed luxury: yup, sounds pretty perfect right about now. Because we love you almost as much as we love Barbados, we’re sending one lucky reader on our dream vacation: three nights at the Hilton Barbados, plus round-trip airfare for you and a friend. Enter to win here.

And because it’s always best to be prepared, check out a few surfboards, along with some of our favorite surf-inspired objects, after the jump. Just do us a favor if you win: Don’t get too tan. It hurts our feelings.

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As we look out the window, New York is bleak and gray. The forecast for the weekend is rain, rain, and more rain. Sigh. In hopes of preempting the arrival of spring, we decided to look at pretty pictures of plants in bloom and baby animals on Flickr — but when we searched the term, tulips, sunshine, and lambs weren’t exactly what we found. Check out the pictures that took us by surprise in our latest edition of Found Photo Fridays after the jump.

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Christoph Niemann’s Abstract City illustrations are always delightful. It doesn’t matter if he’s playing with leaves or playing with Legos, everything he does is subtly cheeky and makes us wish that we were more creative. His newest Abstract City post, “My Way,” is a mapped look at food, movies, and nursery rhymes à la the Google Maps template. If only his illustrations would pop up the next time we tried to get directions. Check out our favorites after the jump.

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Yes, there were actually music videos this week other than the crammed-full-of-crazy video for “Telephone” that Lady Gaga finally released last night after weeks of anticipation. (And if you haven’t already seen it, follow along with our in-depth coverage here). While “Telephone” might rival “Thriller” in terms of fanfare, there were plenty of other music videos released this week that deserve your attention. After the jump, you can go graveyard-dancing with Morrissey, stumble through the gravity-defying world of Kid Cudi, and discover how much better flying would be if the airlines all employed Kate Nash. It might even make you forget about that telephone currently ringing off the hook.

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Mother knows best in Bong Joon-ho’s sinuous, first-rate whodunit, the South Korean director’s first feature since The Host in 2006.

Exquisitely played by Kim Hye-ja (an actress who spent decades in Korean minds as a TV mother), the title character coddles her unpredictable idiot of a son as if the 27-year-old were 7. They eat and even sleep beside each other until, one hazy night, he’s charged with the brutal murder of a poor high-school floozy. With her maternal instinct in overdrive, Mother conducts a town-wide probe to exonerate her child, leading to Hitchcockian suspense and a Pandora’s Box of repressed secrets.

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When we read that Jason Bateman and Ryan Reynolds had been cast in a new film, The Change Up, wherein two best friends switch bodies, we thought, “Really? Another identity swap movie?” But then we read that the screenplay is by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore — the duo who wrote The Hangover — and immediately changed our tune. We also began mentally cataloging the body swap films we grew up watching in preparation for a movie marathon this rainy weekend. Check out our roundup after the jump.

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Celebrating its fifth anniversary, Jonathan LeVine Gallery has made a counterculture name for itself by exhibiting and representing the best of street art and pop surrealism. Paying his dues as an independent curator who organized shows at alternative music venues, such as CBGB and Max Fish, LeVine opened his first gallery in Pennsylvania in 2001 and finally settled in New York’s Chelsea art district in 2005. Promoting a DIY aesthetic of international artists, influenced by illustration, comic-book art, and pop-culture imagery, LeVine provides a platform for a new generation of visual voices that believes there is another way — and through March 27, the evidence is on the gallery walls.

Click here to view a slideshow of selected works »

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On Monday, March 8, we were tipped off to the announcement of a “secret” show at The Bell House by indie darlings and Ditmas Park residents The National. Turns out it wasn’t so secret: the tickets sold out in under a minute. That’s a loyal fanbase for you. Thursday marked the first stop on a spring tour to promote the band’s forthcoming album High Violet, and promote they did, playing 11 new songs off the record in addition to crowd favorites like “Fake Empire” and “Slow Show” — dedicated to lead singer Matt Berninger’s wife, who co-wrote several songs on Boxer and was stuck at home sick.

High Violet is out on May 11 — that makes 57 days for those of you who are, um, counting — but in the meantime, we’ve got (shaky) video from the concert plus a set list after the jump.

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Pop music and classical music are supposed to be different worlds. Yet, in the last few years, the two have begun bleeding together again. On “Colouring of Pigeons,” from Swedish pop duo the Knife’s just-released album Tomorrow, In a Year, one can hear echoes of both Varèse’s Ionisation and Guillaume Dufay floating among metallic passages reminiscent of Björk. The album itself is the score to an opera about Charles Darwin, made in collaboration with avant-garde Berliner Mt. Sims and the British multimedia artist Planningtorock. It merges the artiness of musique concrète and minimalism with the grit of house music.

Since that’s far from the only high-brow stuff whizzing around overhead, we thought we’d give you a look at five composers whose works influence some of the indie pop you know and love. Listen to their music, and the work they’ve inspired, after the jump.

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