Today at Flavorpill, we learned just how snarky Nickelback’s Twitter account can be. We watched a badass panda burning trash in a shopping cart for warmth in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. We uncovered the level of artifice that goes into crafting daytime courtroom TV shows. We pondered calling the G-Spot (now said not to exist), the G-Zone. We were weirded out by this Obama/Hulk mashup. We stared at a red dot that made our eyes do funny things. We listened to some of the purplest musical artists of all-time. We giggled at Alec Baldwin’s Piers Morgan impersonation. We found out what the Vimeo updates will entail. We watched a comedian attempt to sleep at 13 celebrities’ homes. We wanted to travel back in time to this neon New York office building in the 1980s. And finally, we loved Iggy Pop’s description of his job as Record Store Day Ambassador. He said he felt like, “ … a representative from some exotic jungle full of life and death and sex and anger, called upon to wear a leopard skin and translate joy to the world of the dead.” He should probably get a side gig writing job listings.

Editor’s note: Welcome to The Fug Report! Each week our fashion blogger friends Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, the sartorial geniuses behind Go Fug Yourself, will feature some of the most memorable looks of the week in this space. We hope you enjoy it!

This week on Go Fug Yourself, we ramped up for awards season by covering the People’s Choice Awards at length, from Julianne Hough’s butt (which was sporting its own safety net) and the hot new couple of R Pattz and Betty White to the ongoing shenanigans of Miley Cyrus and the surprise reappearance Grace Johnson — aka the girl from Beaches who wasn’t Blossom. We decided that we want to relive our lives as Emma Stone, particularly Emma Stone in this perfect cream coat. We also worried about the carpet sample on Alec Baldwin’s head, fretted about denim harem pants on dudes, and admired Angelina Jolie’s almost Middletonian mane. Hey, credit where it’s due.

Whenever we find out that one of our favorite film actors has taken a role on TV, we’re intrigued. Why trade Hollywood’s red carpets and big paydays for the weekly grind of a regular television schedule? While some thespians can’t resist a juicy role on premium cable, others embrace the small screen as a way to regain the cred they’ve lost after years of disappointing parts in terrible movies. In honor of Don Cheadle’s surprising — and delightful — decision to helm Showtime’s House of Lies, which premiered last night, we look at ten great film actors who became great TV actors.

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An eight-month hiatus can be difficult for any primetime, network TV show to overcome. Fans may have changed their viewing habits or lost their place in the story line or simply forgotten that the series was coming back. It’s hard to know how the break will affect 30 Rock, which has a couple million deeply loyal viewers yet is always struggling to maintain its humble ratings. But one thing is sure: Despite some promising preview clips, Tina Fey’s wonderful sitcom will be faced with a few unusual obstacles when it returns January 12th.

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Today at Flavorpill, we identified perhaps too strongly with this supercut of Parks and Recreation‘s April Ludgate not giving a “$&!#.” We allowed this tilt-shift video of holiday-season Los Angeles as a snow globe to melt our icy hearts. We followed @realshitgirlsay, the feminist answer to the viral sensation of the month. We learned that Alec Baldwin really, really isn’t running for mayor of New York, because he’s not “horny” for the job the way other candidates seem to be. We were impressed by Spin‘s “20 Best Avant Albums of 2011″ list. We decided that John Krasinski and Sesame Street are almost as adorable together as Jason Segel and the Muppets. We agreed that Banksy’s latest sculpture is “a little on the nose.” We watched a five-minute sneak peek of NBC’s new legal drama, The Firm, even though we’ve yet to find the TV legal drama that thrills us. We were relieved at the news that the Joss Whedon-free Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie that’s been in the works for about a year may not happen after all. And finally, were amused that The Fresh Prince of Bel Air cast reunited — without either of the two actresses who played Vivian Banks.

Now that the ever-so-eagerly anticipated David Fincher adaptation of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is out in theaters, fans of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy have had the chance to see how Fincher’s take stacks up — not just against the books, but against the previous Swedish film version, and more specifically in the representation of iconic heroine Lisbeth Salander. The role was played in the original films by Noomi Rapace (currently appearing in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows); for the American films, Rooney Mara takes over.

Who’s better in the role? It’s a tricky question — and one that comes up every time multiple actors take their turns playing a beloved literary character. The critics have weighed in on who plays Lisbeth better, but after the jump, we’ll take a look at ten previous cases of “different actor, same role.”
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1. Last night, The Weeknd — whose House of Balloons was one of our favorite debuts of 2011 — released his third mixtape of the year. You can download Echoes of Silence for free at his website.

2. Louis C.K.’s great online comedy special experiment has now succeeded beyond his wildest dreams: In ten days, it’s earned him more than $1 million. In an interview with Jimmy Fallon last night, C.K. said he would donate some of the proceeds to charity, use another portion to pay for the cost of the production, give away $250,000 in bonuses to his staff, and keep only $220,000 for himself. [via ArtsBeat]

3. NBC has released yet another 30 Rock preview. Watch Jack Donaghy learn something he didn’t know about Liz Lemon is this Christmas-themed clip from the season premiere.

4. Lady Gaga has a holiday gift for fans: ”On Christmas Day I will leak to you an unreleased song off Born This Way,” she tweeted. “It was recorded live, in one take, on the tour bus. Uncensored.” [via Digital Spy]

5. Never one to rest on his laurels (or, really, rest at all) Woody Allen has just released some news about his follow-up to Midnight in Paris. The movie is called Nero Fiddled, is set in Rome, and stars Allen himself — along with Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Roberto Benigni, Penélope Cruz, Judy Davis, and Greta Gerwig. Whoa. [via Splitsider]

In the past seven days, the world has lost a great man (Vaclav Havel), a tyrant (Kim Jong-il), and a silver-tongued contrarian who many feel ambivalently about (Christopher Hitchens). Havel and Hitchens may be far more worthy of tribute than Kim, but he’s the one who figured prominently in one of our favorite sitcoms, so he’s the one who’s on our mind this morning.

As fans will remember, 30 Rock‘s Jack Donaghy lost his wife, Avery Jessup, to a North Korean kidnapping last season, and Margaret Cho appeared on the show as Kim Jong-il. It’s already clear from last week’s supersize preview that we’re going to see more of Avery behind enemy lines in Season 6. While the trailer doesn’t actually show Cho as Kim, it’s difficult to imagine that 30 Rock would return to the story line without revisiting such a popular (and hilarious) character. Read More »

We’ve got good news and bad news. The bad news is that our “Liz Lemon is pregnant” prediction seems somewhat less likely after seeing NBC’s new five-minute 30 Rock promo. But the good news is that NBC released a five-minute 30 Rock promo, packed with wonderful moments. It looks like Kelsey Grammer, Denise Richards, and Will Arnett will all pop up in Season 6. Then there’s James Marsden, who’s on board as Liz Lemon’s new slacker boyfriend. Meanwhile, it seems we’ll be getting plenty of updates on Avery, who’s still being held captive in North Korea (hopefully this means more Margaret Cho as Kim Jong-il). Most exciting to us, though, is the introduction of new cast member (!) Kristen Schaal’s character, “Hazel Whatshername,” a TGS page who idolizes Liz Lemon. Treat yourself to five minutes of preview hilarity below.

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Poor Alec Baldwin. He got kicked off an airplane for playing Words with Friends (or slamming the bathroom door so hard that pilots suspected terrorism, whatever). For some reason, the incident led to Baldwin shutting down his Twitter account. But he still has a lot to say at Huffington Post, where he published a brief essay called “My Flying Lesson” Wednesday. In the post, he apologizes to his fellow passengers for creating a disturbance, explains that the incident upset him so much because he had been loyal to American Airlines for over 20 years, and complains about the “post-9/11, paramilitary bearing of much of the air travel business.” Baldwin also argues that many of the new flight attendants he’s encountered “walk the aisles of an airplane with a whistle around their neck and a clipboard in their hands and they have made flying a Greyhound bus experience.”

This jab didn’t escape the notice of Greyhound CEO Dave Leach, who responded with an open letter telling Baldwin he’s “disheartened” by the comparison. According to Leach, the famously low-budget bus line is now a paradise, replete with “more legroom, leather seats, power outlets and free Wi-Fi,” which would afford a multi-millionaire Hollywood star the luxury to play Words with Friends for the entire days-long trek between LA and New York. Very smart PR guy, that Dave Leach. [via Reuters]