1. Ladies and gentlemen, this just might be the funniest My Little Pony-related correction that The New York Times has ever issued. [via The Daily What]
2. Hot British actor of the moment Benedict Cumberbatch (who you might recognize from recent roles in War Horse or the BBC’s Sherlock) has come aboard JJ Abrams’ highly-anticipated Star Trek sequel as the film’s villain. [via Variety]
3. Due to issues with the script, Vulture is exclusively reporting that Matt Damon will no longer be making his directorial debut with a film about a smalltown salesman written by Dave Eggers; he is still up for starring in the movie though.
4. Following their recent separation, Zooey Deschanel has officially filed for divorce from Ben Gibbard citing “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for their break up. [via NME]
5. Now that issues regarding rights have finally been hammered out, there’s a Jerry Garcia doc in the works from filmmaker Malcolm Leo that will prominently feature material from a conversation that the director had with The Grateful Dead frontman back in 1987, as well as never-before-seen performances and rare home movies. [via Deadline]
Bonus Buzz: Kanye West’s Bizarre Twitter Rant Is About His Insane New “Design Company”
Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard and New Girl star Zooey Deschanel have split up after a two-year marriage. (We’re still trying to ignore news about that other breakup.) The separation comes not long after Deschanel’s cover story in New York Magazine where hubby repeatedly gushed over the She and Him singer and how amazing she was. “I’d seen her movies and obviously I thought she was very beautiful,” he expressed. The couple were introduced by their mutual music manager, and the experience floored the indie bandman. “I was just awestruck that she was even talking to me,” he shared. According to Deschanel, it was hard being apart from Gibbard on tour, but he was ” … really good at calling.” As one astute commenter on Rolling Stone’s website points out, there’s a silver lining in all this: “This means only one thing: the next DCfC album is going to be amazing.” Do you agree?
This week’s mix is a little different. Specially curated by a North Ireland-based trio named after the mispronunciation of a local Tudor Cinema, this collection of ten songs showcases the eclectic influences that inspire their brand of catchy indie pop.
Two Door Cinema Club has already been featured as one of BBC’s Sounds of 2010 and opened for Phoenix. Their selections range from notables like Sufjan Stevens and Ben Gibbard to up and comers like Wild Nothing and Fool’s Gold. Click through the links to download the songs individually or all at once, after the jump, and read what Two Door Cinema Club has to say about each band.
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It’s not enough to just be awesome at one thing anymore. More and more artists are multitasking, and we’re seeing a particular amount of crossover between the somewhat unlikely genres of music and literature. But wait — aren’t musicians supposed to be outgoing egomaniacs and aren’t writers supposed to be tweedy shut-ins? Well, the writer/musician isn’t exactly a new trend — remember Tarantula, Dylan’s stream-of-consciousness book of prose-poetry? And don’t forget that Leonard Cohen was actually a writer first. So maybe there’s something to this whole writer turned rock star thing. Here are some multitaskers who make us feel bad about ourselves when we lie around the house all Sunday.
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John Krasinski’s adaptation of the wonderful David Foster Wallace’s short story collection Brief Interviews with Hideous Men is out in theaters. Well, theater really, since in New York it’s still playing exclusively at the IFC Center. But no matter. The real story blowing up the blogs is that Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard makes his acting debut in the film, looking like a cute potato as always.
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1. There’s an update from Alia Shawkat on the Arrested Development movie. [via Movieline]
2. This not an Onion story: “Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, rocketed into space today for a nine-day stay aboard the International Space Station, where he will lead a performance next week to raise awareness of water scarcity.” [via Bloomberg]
3. Seth Green and the “Robot Chicken” gang are bringing an animated project to FOX. [via THR]
4. There’s a new trailer for Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox that looks much better than the previous one. [via Collider]
5. Listen to a track from One Fast Move or I’m Gone, the Kerouac-inspired album from Sun Volt’s Jay Farrar and Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard. [via NPR]
It has been a little over a year since the ineffable David Foster Wallace left us for the hereafter. Ululate if you must. Of course, his spirit lives on through his ruminative, pomo oeuvre — death, as e.e. cummings poeticized, is “no parenthesis.” In fact, the dark, surging, circumlocutory monologues in Wallace’s 1999 short-story collection, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, inspired John Krasinski (yes, he of The Office stardom) to adapt them for his behind-the-camera debut of the same name. Read More »
1. Through no fault of host Neil Patrick Harris, we fell asleep during the Emmys, but it sounds like we didn’t miss too many surprises. [via LAT]
2. Thom Yorke collaborated with Banksy on the video for his new solo song “The Hollow Earth.” (Watch the embedded clip after the jump.) [via NME]
3. Barack Obama visits David Letterman for the first time since becoming president tonight. [via NYT]
4. Sorry boys: Zooey Deschanel and Ben Gibbard married over the weekend. [via MTV]
5. John Grisham empathizes with Dan Brown because he doesn’t write “literature” either. [via Telegraph] Read More »
Our friends at The L Magazine were watching the college tournament on Jeopardy! last week, and were shocked when indie rock appeared as a category in the Double Jeopardy round. How would you have fared?
$400: Ben Gibbard is the lead singer of this band that sounds like a ride a hottie should turn down.
$800: Kingsizemaybe’s song “Dallas” recalls the day of this man’s assassination.
$1200: L.A.’s Silversun Pickups got their name from a store at the corner of Silver Lake Boulevard and this one with a famous “strip.”
$1600: As a child, Jenny Lewis appeared on “Baywatch”; now she fronts this “Portions for Foxes” band.
$2000: Think twice before kissing these “hot” Oklahoma indie stars who sang “Do You Realize?”
If you’re debating whether questions two and three really count, in this same round a question about Harry Potter surfaced in Comparative Lit category. Click over to the L’s site to find out if you did better than the college kids.
