SOPA Blackout Day is in full swing, with Wikipedia, Reddit, BoingBoing, and other Internet giants blacking out entirely and thousands of other sites — including Flavorpill — creatively demonstrating their solidarity. (We hope you agree that censor bars aren’t a great look for us.) There’s also been something of a backlash against the online outpouring of opposition to SOPA and its Senate counterpart PIPA, from the usual suspects in Washington as well as groups like the MPAA, who sent this nasty note about the protests.
But not everyone in the entertainment industry supports SOPA. Stop the Wall, a site that you can also use to make a quick and easy phone call to your senator about the legislation, has posted an open letter to Washington from a group of artists that includes Aziz Ansari, Trent Reznor, The Lonely Island, MGMT, Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer, Troma honcho Lloyd Kaufman, and many others. “As creative professionals, we experience copyright infringement on a very personal level,” they write, but they don’t support SOPA because they “have benefited immensely from a free and open Internet.” Read the full letter after the jump, and then, if you haven’t already, get on the phone with your representatives to add your voice to the anti-SOPA chorus.
Jay-Z and Kanye West’s Watch the Throne has already been out for four months, but apparently this is official Watch the Throne Parody Week 2011. Yesterday, we watched a trio of hipster girls transform it into a mumblecore movie. And today brings a delightful, spot-on collaborative text/emoticon “cover” of “Niggas in Paris” from “Otis” video co-star Aziz Ansari and his friend, Matt Shawver. We imagine Tom Haverford printing out “Emoji in Paris” and mounting it on the wall next to his desk, flanked by the pocket watch and miniature throne Leslie Knope gave him for Christmas. Read More »
David Bowie’s androgynous early-’70s alien character, Ziggy Stardust, is not only one rock’s most memorable characters; he’s also one of its most distinctive fashion icons, sporting skintight jumpsuits, pounds of glitter makeup, and a bright-red hairdo that gives mullets a good name. Although he’s nearing his 40th birthday, Ziggy’s iconic style continues to influence musicians, fashion designers, artists, and fans, as pop-culture homages to the bisexual space invader abound. Models have been the subjects of Ziggy Stardust-themed fashion shoots, actors have portrayed (and parodied) the role onscreen, and celebrities of all kinds have taken it upon themselves to revive the lightning-bolt look for fun and profit. See some of the best and funniest Ziggy Stardust tributes after the jump. Read More »
It’s time to get excited, Parks and Recreation fans. After months of revisiting the Swanson Pyramid of Greatness and making Knope for Mayor T-shirts, it’s finally time to return to Pawnee. Whatever tonight’s season premiere brings, lots of laughs are surely in store — but what can we actually expect from our favorite Parks and Rec characters this year? Because we’ve truly grown to love Leslie, Ron, April, and their co-workers, we couldn’t resist mapping out our hopes and dreams for the entire crew in Season 4.
Today at Flavorpill, we met Lucy, the world’s oldest cat, who is allegedly 39 years old. We read an excerpt from Patton Oswalt’s new book, Zombie Spaceship Wasteland. We liked Mashable’s list of 10 websites to watch in 2011 — particularly their inclusion of Flavorpill favorites Kickstarter and Grooveshark. We read some explanations why thousands of dead birds are falling from the sky. We felt immature for laughing at these funny font failures. We watched the other 100 greatest movie insults of all time, a worthy sequel to the original. We lusted after this robot dresser. We reimagined the Peanuts gang as Star Wars characters. We discovered that five years old is when you should start wearing makeup, at least if you want to be featured in a spread in French Vogue — which let’s face it, what little kid doesn’t? And finally, we let Bill Hader convince us that we need to buy a VW. Or a peacock who drinks wine. Either one, really.
Music interviews start to sound awfully repetitive once you’ve read enough of them. So tell me about the new album. Do you prefer playing live or working in the studio? How would you describe your music? Who are your influences? Zzzzzzz. Kudos, then, to The Fader, who acquiesced to Animal Collective’s request to be interviewed over email by LA comedian Aziz Ansari and then published the entire transcript as a kind of pseudo-Interview magazine style stream-of-consciousness conversation, only with HTML and plentiful embedded YouTube videos. And baby photos. Some of it is dull (endless discussions of WWF, in particular), but there’s some quality quotes to be had. Our edited highlights are after the jump.
He’s been called (by us, even) “the black Mitch Hedberg,” but Brooklyn-via-Chicago comic Hannibal Buress is standing on his own with his first comedy album.
Hannibal (yes, that’s his real name) finds the absurd in the everyday on My Name Is Hannibal, from flaming cocktails and metal arms to fire SUVs and pickle juice. It’s his laid-back delivery that garners comparisons to Hedberg — but Buress’ stand-up is consistently edgier and far more constructed. The SNL writer has performed with everyone from Aziz Ansari to The Daily Show‘s John Oliver, and New Yorkers can see him weekly at his comedy revue at the Knitting Factory Brooklyn.
This week marks our 30th mixtape. We may not be getting all “XXX,” Roman-style, but we have managed to narrow the week’s choicest mp3s down to our ten favorites. Keep your eyes peeled for new material from the Arcade Fire, Maximum Balloon (Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio), and some long-lost cousins of Phoenix. Right Click + Save As individual songs, or scroll to the bottom to get the entire mixtape, after the jump.
1. Oprah‘s next move: Oprah’s Next Chapter, an hourlong evening show that will air two or three times a week and feature interviews with notable figures from around the world. [via WSJ]
2. Lil Wayne is on suicide watch in prison. Like it’s his job watching out for the other prisoners. [via US]
3. Flavorpill favorite Aziz Ansari is in talks to star in Ruben Fleischer‘s action flick followup to Zombieland, 30 Minutes or Less. [via THR]
4. We can believe it: Apple may be planning a 5- to 7-inch iPad for the first quarter of next year. [via Nerd World]
5. According to Michael Ausiello, “an unlikely romance will take shape in early May” on Lost. Any guesses who it will involve? [via EW]
1. MGMT‘s upcoming sophomore release, Congratulations, which isn’t due out until April 13, leaked over the weekend. As a result, the band is now streaming it here. [via Vulture]
2. Rumor is that Parks and Recreation‘s Aziz Ansari is in final talks to host the 2010 MTV Movie Awards. [via EW]
3. When Showtime’s Nurse Jackie returns for a second season this month, Dr. Cooper will be tweeting in character and in real time from @DoctorCoop. [via NYT]
4. A new Joyce Carol Oates short story from the latest issue of the New Yorker is online for your reading pleasure.
5. Did you see Michelle Obama‘s cameo on last night’s episode of The Simpsons? The character was voiced by none other than Angela Bassett. (video) [via HuffPo]
