Last week, the world was treated to the very first presidential letter to have ever been Instagram’d, courtesy of Zooey Deschanel. The New Girl darling tweeted, “I am SO EXCITED!” upon opening a special envelope from President Obama, who took to some White House stationery to send his warmest wishes on her 32nd birthday. Jealous? Yeah, we are too. Zooey’s not the first celebrity to receive a letter from an admiring president — check out some fan letters, get-well-soon cards, thank-you notes, and party invitations after the jump.
As long as she’s been famous, Lady Gaga has been known for her charity work and support of LGBT and other marginalized communities. So it’s absolutely unsurprising — but also pretty awesome — to hear that she’s launching a philanthropic organization of her own. Co-founded by GLAAD Media Award nominee Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, the Born This Way Foundation seeks to empower youth through promoting self-confidence and fighting bullying. This is clearly all very on-message for the star, whose mother told MTV News, “My daughter’s foundation was born out of her passion to create a better world where people are kinder and nicer to one another and are accepted for who they are, regardless of how different they may be.” The foundation will get its official kick-off at a party February 29th at Harvard, whose Berkman Center for Internet and Society is (along with the MacArthur Foundation and the California Endowment) a partner on the project.
As Judy Berman already pointed out, last night’s Golden Globes weren’t quite the comedic bloodbath that we’ve come to expect from the show’s three-time host Ricky Gervais. Maybe there was too much hype — especially from the comedian himself — about just how vicious he would be this go around. Perhaps for all of his bad boy showboating, he really was kept in check by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association — who apparently gave him a strict list of rules to follow throughout the night. He certainly seemed to get less screentime than we’ve seen in previous years. In fact, by the end of the evening, you could easily compress all of Gervais’ most scathing moments into a two and half minute clip. Don’t believe us? Click through to check it out now, courtesy of video editing wiz Jesse Pynigar.
Recently, we discovered a wonderful collaboration between perennial tough-guy Vinnie Jones and The British Heart Foundation, which is airing TV advertisements starring the actor to raise awareness about proper CPR form. The move came after a study showed that nearly 50% of Brits are unsure about what to do if someone has a cardiac arrest, but we think everyone could use a little reminder (no kissing). Inspired by Jones’s video, we’ve collected a series of informative celebrity how-tos and informational videos, whether funny or serious, produced or off the cuff, on everything from dance moves to changing a tire to proper etiquette. Click through to take a look, and by all means, get ready to learn something.
Jeremy Renner — who appeared in the recently released installment of long-running Tom Cruise action vehicle, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol — was at a pub in Phuket, Thailand last night when a huge brawl broke out. Rumors circulated that the Hurt Locker actor might have been injured, but later reports confirmed that Renner left the bar unharmed as soon as the frenzy broke out. The star’s reps advised J.R. was “not involved” in the attack, but it made us wonder if his bad boy screen persona had any real-life influence when it came to the verbal assault that apparently started the whole thing. Renner’s not the only Hollywood actor who appears to be a little too comfortable in the part of troublemaker. Past the break, we list several other stars working today that probably belong to the celebrity fight club we’re not allowed to talk about (them’s the rules). Who’d you add? Read More »
We’ll be the first to admit that it has been a long, long time since we were in the target demographic for Barbie, yet when we heard that a collection of dolls inspired by the Kardashians is rumored to be in the works, we couldn’t help but react with a resounding “huh?!” What’s the fun in that? The whole point of playing with Barbie dolls is the escapism and fantasy; meanwhile, whether you love ‘em or hate ‘em, you have to admit that the Kardashian sisters have built their ever-growing empire around their willingness to overshare every last banal detail of their daily lives with the public– not exactly the most thrilling source material. Plus, while their fashion choices are typically on-trend, they’re also pretty darn boring. So, we decided to do a little bit of digging, and discovered that there are plenty of celebrity-inspired Barbies on the market that we wouldn’t mind playing with — even as adults. Let us know which doll is your favorite in the comments.
Celebrities: they’re just like us. That is, they make New Year’s resolutions and promote them on Twitter whether any of their friends care or not — though, to be fair, they probably have more friends who do care than anyone else you know. And of course, just like our own New Year’s promises, some of these celebrity resolutions are thoughtful and from the heart while others are meant in jest, and many fall somewhere in between. Whether revealing a dream to stay alive forever, a need to pare down, or a staunch resolution to make friends with a lion, and whether completely tongue-in-cheek or sweet and sincere, click through to read fifteen of our favorite celebrity New Year’s resolution tweets, and be sure to let us know your own resolutions in the comments. As for us, well, we resolve to stop looking at Twitter so much.
[Editor's note: While your Flavorwire editors take a much-needed holiday break, we're revisiting some of our most popular features of the year. This post was originally published July 30, 2011.] It’s the last weekend of July and summer is in full swing (it won’t last forever, though, so if you haven’t busted out your bathing suit by now, you’d better do it soon). We already know that many of the literary greats we admire liked to flit around the beach in their bathing suits, but what about their sonic storytelling counterparts? Turns out they fancied a swim now and again too. Not surprising, since their days were most likely filled with sticky tour bus rides and sweat-inducing live performances. Also not surprising: they tend to look just a little better in their next-to-nothing duds than our dear group of authors, since for many of them, part of their job was inspiring teenage lovesickness. Click through to see our gallery of rock stars from the 60s, 70s and 80s as they frolic, pose and pout in their swimsuits.
Recently, we found out that Courtney Love was facing eviction from her West Village townhouse “after she set it on fire and ‘ruined’ its designer décor” by painting and wallpapering the walls (the fire was a minor one caused by a candle). According to her landlord, Love is also $54,000 behind on the $324,000 annual rent. All this aside, or perhaps in part because of it, yesterday we were treated to a detailed romp through Courtney Love’s house courtesy of xoJane, whose editors have been using Love’s home as a “sort of Pop-Up office.” Lucky them! Love’s townhouse is full of cozy, lived-in glamour, and its cheerful blues and pinks mixed with dark hardwood and slightly sinister art make it seem a little bit like a deliciously ornate doomsday cake. All we can say is, we hope she gets to keep it. Click through to see a few of our favorite photos, then head over to xoJane for many more. Read More »
If you really want to know what a famous person thinks about other famous people, get him to do some word association. At least, that seems to be the lesson of this fan-made questionnaire John Lennon filled out in 1976. We’re sure the document was filled with plenty of interesting tidbits, but Lists of Note — our new favorite blog, from the gent who brought us the wonderful Letters of Note — is right to pick out the page of word association. It’s interesting to see what came to mind for Lennon upon seeing the names John, Paul, and Ringo, and information-freedom fans will be gratified to see that he thought bootlegs were “good.” But we couldn’t help getting an immature chuckle at the word he associated with Elvis — “fat.” Bowie, meanwhile? “Thin.”
