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Photography

A Photographer’s Adorable Self-Portraits in a World of Giant Books and Typewriters

By Judy Berman on

It’s a bibliophile’s dream come true — if that bibliophile is also, like Joel Robinson, a big fan of The Borrowers. In a series we discovered via PetaPixel, the Canadian photographer Photoshops himself into a fantasy world where a book is large enough to serve as his tent, and the only way for him to use a typewriter is to jump from key to key. Click through to see some highlights from the set, and visit Robinson’s Flickr page for a whole lot more of his manipulated photos. … Read More

New York

Funny and Fascinating Relics from the Life of Andy Kaufman

By Judy Berman on

Flyers for a highbrow lecture tour that never happened. A scrawled boxing challenge from a 4’8” woman (who also enclosed a photo of herself). A daily mantra card with a quote from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. A photograph of the subject impersonating Elvis. These are the strange and fascinating relics of Andy Kaufman’s life, which will appear as part of Maccarone Gallery‘s exhibition, On Creating Reality, by Andy Kaufman, which opens January 12 and runs through February 26. But fans won’t just have access to Kaufman’s ephemera at the show; a rotating cast of the comedian’s friends, family, and collaborators will also be on hand to hold “intimate and unscripted conversations about Kaufman” with visitors. Click through to see a selection of Andy Kaufman artifacts that will be on view — and if you’re in New York, make sure you take advantage of the rare opportunity to discuss the man and his myth with the people who knew him. … Read More

Music

Watch Bat for Lashes’ Exclusive Performance at Flavorpill HQ

By Judy Berman on

Yesterday evening, just as commuters were leaving work and shuffling into subway stations, Flavorpill HQ hosted one of its most exciting Flavorpill Sessions yet: Bat for Lashes. The British artist responsible for one of 2012′s most beloved and acclaimed albums, The Haunted Man, joined us — and a selection of lucky New Yorkers who signed up at the new and improved Flavorpill — for an intimate performance that fans around the world could tune in to via Livestream. … Read More

New York

A 14-Year-Old Photographer’s Intimate Marilyn Monroe Film Stills

By Judy Berman on

One day in 1955, a 14-year-old boy’s dream came true. Bronx high-school student Peter Mangone had cut classes to stake out Marilyn Monroe’s hotel with an eight-millimeter movie camera, and got far more than he bargained for when the star invited him to accompany her entourage as they wandered Fifth Avenue. Taken from the five-and-a-half minutes of footage Mangone shot that day — which only resurfaced in 2002, when his brother found it in a box of things Mangone thought he had thrown away — the stills below provide a remarkable composite portrait of Monroe. There’s the movie star mugging for the camera, sure, but some of the most powerful shots find her staring vulnerably into the distance or with her eyes closed and faced fixed in an expression of utter beatitude. Click through to see a selection of stills from Marilyn Monroe (New York, 1955): The Lost Film of Peter Mangone, on view at Danziger Gallery in Chelsea from January 10 through February 9. … Read More

Television

‘Downton Abbey’ Season 3, Episode 1: The Dowager Countess Recap

By Judy Berman on

Now in its third season, Downton Abbey is more divisive than ever. Once almost universally acclaimed, the British period drama that follows the aristocratic Crawley family and their many servants faced accusations last year of descending into soap opera-style sensationalism. Although we don’t mind a juicy soap opera here at Flavorwire — and have, in fact, been known to defend Downton Abbey against its snobbier critics — this season we hope to unite the various factions by limiting our recaps to the one character everyone can still agree to love: Violet Crawley, that feisty, elitist grandma played by the one and only Dame Maggie Smith. Each week, we’ll recount the Dowager Countess of Grantham’s adventures. They may often be tangential to the main storyline, but they’ll always be among the most important Downton moments to us. … Read More

New York

Shadowy, Eerily Desolate Black-and-White Photos of New York City

By Judy Berman on

Bright lights and throngs of people are the first images that come to mind when we picture New York, but both are absent from Gabriele Croppi’s arresting photos of the city. His Metaphysics of an Urban Landscape series — which also includes shots from Moscow, London, Paris, Rome, and more — uses high-contrast photography to highlight lone figures surrounded by shadows, against the background of the world’s most recognizable architecture. For the New York collection in particular, Croppi’s aim was “to silence one of the most chaotic and noisy cities in the world,” resulting in images that are both gorgeously composed and eerily desolate. Click through to see some of our favorite familiar-made-strange photos of the city, which we discovered via PetaPixel, and visit Croppi’s website for more of his work. … Read More

Television

Flavorwire’s Complete Guide to Midseason 2013 TV

By Judy Berman on

Winter TV is the new fall TV. Once a fallow period stuffed with shows networks didn’t think were good enough to front-load into September, midseason has become every bit as exciting as the traditional season premiere time. Here, we round up 30 notable new and returning shows we’re anticipating (and, in some cases, dreading) in the months to… Read More

Photography

Lovely Embroidered Photos Illustrate the Limitations of Photography

By Judy Berman on

By adding embroidery to photos taken during her time in New Jersey, Italy, and the American West, Diane Meyer give the images a history that both predates and postdates photography. Called Time Spent That Might Otherwise Be Forgotten, the series embellishes the snapshots with the ancient craft of hand-sewing, but the cross-stitched patches that result resemble pixels. According to Meyer, “The project refers to the failures of photography in preserving experience and personal history as well as the means by which photographs become nostalgic objects that obscure objective understandings of the past.” Click through to see the series, which we discovered via Faith is Torment, and visit Meyer’s website for more of her work. … Read More

Art

Disco Ball Destroys Dinner in Alejandro Almanza Pereda’s Arresting Sculpture

By Judy Berman on

Alejandro Almanza Pereda’s sculpture of a disco ball wrecking a fussily set table that still bears the remains of a meal could double as a visual representation of our brains circa noon yesterday. But the appeal of Ahead and beyond of everyone’s time, space and rhythm isn’t limited to its evocation of a New Year’s hangover; it’s also a beautiful and disconcerting vision of staid, quotidian life brought to the brink of destruction by debauchery. Click through to see the sculpture, which we discovered via Beautiful/Decay, from various angles, and visit Pereda’s website for more of his thought-provoking work. … Read More

New York

Notable New Yorkers’ Cultural Resolutions for 2013

By Judy Berman on

Now that Christmas is nothing more than a pile of shredded wrapping paper and tinsel on the floor of your family’s living room, ’tis the season to think about how we can make slightly less of a mess of things in the year ahead. That’s right: New Year’s resolutions. Of course, here at Flavorwire, we’re not so interested in your plan to get ripped or reconnect with your middle-school best friend. Our favorite resolutions are of the cultural variety — and who better to ask about those than 50 of New York’s most promising emerging culture makers? We hope their compelling, diverse, and sometimes humorous resolutions will inspire you to make some of your very own. … Read More