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50 Shades of Grey

Pop Culture

Celebrities Reading '50 Shades of Grey' Aloud, Ranked From Worst to Best

By Emily Temple on

By now, it seems like everyone in the world has read 50 Shades of Grey (except the people you actually know). Including celebrities, who particularly can’t seem to get enough of reading the thing out loud. We get it — it’s hilarious and oh so scandalous in a completely safe way. But some celebs do a better job than others, and though “better” here is obviously relative and subjective, we’d say that the quality usually comes down to the commitment. After the jump, watch (if you can bear it) ten videos of celebrities reading from 50 Shades of Grey, ranked from worst to best. Do you agree with our rankings? Want someone else on the list? Let us know in the comments. … Read More

Books

A Book Critic’s Hilarious Response to E.L. James as “Publishing Person of the Year”

By Emily Temple on

Like many of you (we hope), we were sort of surprised by the news that Publishers Weekly had anointed E.L. James, author of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, as the Publishing Person of the Year. After all, we like to imagine that PW has a little taste, and we know it has more than a little literary clout, so we’re not sure how its staffers looked past James’ terrible prose to give her any sort of prize. Then again, according to PW, it’s all about the money. … Read More

Pop Culture

10 of the Weirdest Vintage Workout Videos

By Alison Nastasi on

It’s the dawn of a new year, which for many people signals a time to restructure their routines, reorganize their lives, and lose the weight they vowed to get rid of last year. With New Year’s resolutions on the brain, we’ve been spotting some unusual workout regimens taking advantage of this moment, like the 50 Shades of Grey-inspired routine we told you about yesterday. We felt compelled to dig up weird workout videos from the past — surreal, awkward, and disturbing moments in fitness history. Delight in VHS glitches, questionable wardrobes, and complete confusion after the jump. If you have a favorite video, drop it in the comments section. … Read More

Books

10 Literary Parodies That Work

By Emily Temple on

Well, at least there’s one decidedly delicious thing to have come out of the 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon. Quite literally delicious: this week sees the release of 50 Shades of Chicken: A Parody in a Cookbook, which details the sordid adventures of a young, inexperienced chicken as she gets her breasts and thighs handled by a chef — while serving up some excellent recipes for roasting chicken as well. It’s enough to make you snort that cooking wine right out of your nose. Inspired by this new and hilarious release, we’ve put together a list of ten literary parodies that totally work on their own merit — no mere joke books these. Click through to see which we chose, and if we missed your favorite parody, be sure to add it to our list in the comments. … Read More

Books

Books That Old White Men Love to Hate

By Emily Temple on

Yesterday, we read a fascinating article on The New Yorker’s Page Turner about impact that former president of France Nicholas Sarkozy’s bizarre hatred of Madame de Lafayette’s 1678 novel The Princess of Clèves, a staple of French cultural heritage and the favorite book of many. Sarkozy publicly bashed and mocked the book, prompting obstinate outrage from his countrymen, and the article goes so far as to suggest that the president’s position on the work was part of the reason he was ousted earlier this year.

But why hate on this book, Sarkozy? Perhaps he was just being crotchety. Which brings us to the topic of the day: books that old white men love to hate. Of course we know there are no books that only men hate (or like, for that matter), and one dissident does not a trend make, but sometimes it’s fun to make assumptions, so please take the following in the spirit that it’s meant. Read on for a few books that have set off the alarms for the white male establishment, and let us know which scary feminist novels we missed in the comments. … Read More

Books

Adorable Photos of People Dressed Up as Books

By Emily Temple on

Here at Flavorpill, we like to get into the holiday spirit. For this Halloween, we’ve peeked at everything from kids’ costumes that they’re way too young to understand to famous works of art as Halloween costumes to whole buildings trying on new identities. But what if you’re a book nerd, and you’ve exhausted all of your favorite characters already? Or maybe your favorite character doesn’t have any conveniently distinguishing physical features? Well then, why not go as your favorite book, instead? For a little inspiration, click through to check out ten charming book costumes, and let us know which cardboard tome you’d most like to strap onto your torso in the comments. … Read More

Books

The Flavorpill Guide to DIY Pop Culture Halloween Costumes: Books

By Emily Temple on

Halloween: It’s always more complicated than you want it to be. Even if you’ve got your plans set, it’s a struggle to find the perfect costume — without resorting to the same crappy, overpriced, pre-packaged getups everyone else will be wearing. Thankfully, just as we have done for the past two Octobers, Flavorpill is helping you out with a series of easy DIY costume guides tackling various pop-culture realms. Don’t worry — there’s no sewing involved.

Last week, we took you through a few easy-as-pie options in the realm of television, giving our suggestions on channeling everyone from Hare Krishna Paul Kinsey to Evil Abed, but if you spend more time with your nose in a book than you do catching up on the latest shows (or just want to seem like you do), this week’s installment is or you. While we’re sure this Halloween will see its usual abundance of Poes and Plaths and Maxes from Where The Wild Things Are, we’ve put together a few slightly more original costume ideas inspired by the ups and downs of this year in the book world. Detailed instructions on how to channel a few authors, characters and even entire books after the jump. … Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we learned nine things they don’t tell you about dating an architect. We fell in love with Catroulette. We browsed a David Fincher film title retrospective. We took a peek inside celebrity closets. We read 50 Shades of Grey with “Morgan Freeman.” We… Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Alison Nastasi on

Today at Flavorpill, we read a few famous last texts. We enjoyed BuzzFeed’s response to McSweeney’s parody of their website. We read Silent Drape Runners’ text review of Katy Perry’s film Part of Me. We watched an opera performance where the libretto was created entirely from the captions of… Read More