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

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we looked at some of the most challenged books of the past year. We drooled over a few of these haute couture-inspired versions of the Disney Princess costumes. We wondered if the fried chicken necklace trend — as spotted on Nicki Minaj over the weekend in… Read More

Film

13 Actors Who Badmouthed Their Own Movies

By Jason Bailey on

Sean Penn, never the wallflower, has some opinions he’d like to share about his latest film, The Tree of Life. His thoughts may surprise you! (If you know absolutely nothing about Sean Penn, that is.) The actor told the French publication Le Figaro, “I didn’t at all find on the screen the emotion of the script, which is the most magnificent one that I’ve ever read. A clearer and more conventional narrative would have helped the film without, in my opinion, lessening its beauty and its impact. Frankly, I’m still trying to figure out what I’m doing there and what I was supposed to add in that context! What’s more, Terry himself never managed to explain it to me clearly.”

While Penn’s complaints may have resonated with the refund-refused moviegoers of Connecticut, most have seen it as rather bad form—particularly for a critically-acclaimed picture that is still in general release. On the other hand, he’s certainly not the first actor to publicly diss his own work; we’ve collected some of our favorites after the jump. … Read More

Film

10 Unrealized Book-to-Film Adaptations We’d Like to Have Seen

By Jason Bailey on

When Universal announced last year that an epic adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower was in the works, which would include a trilogy of feature films directed by Ron Howard and a two-season television series, it sounded like a massive undertaking — from both a creative and financial perspective. This week, the studio decided it was too massive and pulled the plug on the project, breaking the hearts of fanboys and King readers the world over.

From the beginning, some had wondered if Howard was the right director for the project — now, unless the filmmaker attempts to set the project up elsewhere (unlikely, as both Howard and his Imagine production company have a long history with Uni), we’ll never know. It seems that we can add The Dark Tower to the long list of proposed book-to-film adaptations by famed directors that never saw the light of day. We’ve assembled ten of them after the jump; add yours in the comments. … Read More

Television

10 of the Oddest Emmy Nominees of All Time

By Kirthana Ramisetti on

Earlier this morning the Primetime Emmy nominations were announced, and the internet is abuzz over who deserved recognition and who was outrageously snubbed. If there’s remotely the same kind of interest in the nominations as there has been in years past, then TV fans and critics are already having a field day. But before we weigh-in on what we think of this year’s crop, let’s take a look at some of the oddest nominees in Emmy history. … Read More

Television

‘Louie’ and the Best Stand-Ups-Turned-Sitcom-Stars

By Jason Bailey on

The first season of Louie, the FX sitcom written and directed by star Louis C.K., hits DVD and Blu-ray today; this innovative, somewhat subversive, and reliably uproarious series takes the notion of the tightly-constructed stand-up sit-com and turns it on its head, with a stream-of-consciousness narrative style and surrealist streak that brands it a true original. Of course, the stages of comedy clubs (and, before that, coffee houses and vaudeville stages) have been television’s most reliable source of comedy stars; Louie is the latest in a very long line of television series created for (and sometimes by) stand-up comedians.

In assembling this list of our favorites, we concentrated only on those who starred in their own series, rather than in a supporting role in someone else’s (so no Andy Kaufman, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Billy Crystal, or Kathy Griffin); only those whose sitcoms were hits (sorry, Margaret Cho); and only those who were successful stand-ups first (hence, no Larry David — by his own admission). The rest is opinion, and sorry, there’s no convincing us that either Tim Allen’s stand-up act or Home Improvement were funny. With those parameters in mind, our list of the best stand-ups-turned-sitcom stars is after the jump. … Read More

Celebrity

Celebrity Endorsements: 10 Delightfully Strange Vintage Ads

By Caroline Stanley on

While the delivery methods might be more inventive these days (ahem, Twitter), the idea of celebrity endorsements is nothing new. In fact, if anything has changed over the past few decades, we’d say that today’s stars must have better publicists/managers/image consultants/etc., because for the most part their brand choices make some kind of sense — at least in comparison. After the jump, find a suited up Woody Allen crawling out of a gigantic conch shell for a taste of Smirnoff, Sammy Davis, Jr. stuffing Alka Seltzer into his Christmas stocking, and a very serious looking Bogey shilling boxed chocolates. … Read More

Web

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

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we were impressed that someone took the time to scrawl the entire first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on a bathroom stall wall. We found Ulysses much easier to understand when translated into bar codes. We were impressed by these customized Nike Dunks… Read More

Television

The Best and Worst American Remakes of British TV Shows

By Zoë Leverant on

Since the Revolutionary War, Americans have been getting revenge on the British by appropriating their culture. A Brit made the first television broadcast in 1925, but since we’d like to think we can claim the medium as our own, it’s only natural that we do everything we can to steal their successful telly programming. Sometimes it works, sometimes it gets lost in translation, but we never stop trying. As we look forward to (or, more accurately, dread) MTV’s remake of the fantastic UK series Skins, which premieres in January, here’s a look at the best and worst American versions of UK TV shows. … Read More

Music

Stream Bill Cosby’s Hip-Hop Debut

By Caroline Stanley on

Did you know that Bill Cosby was working on a hip-hop album? While The Cosnarati: State of Emergency is not due out in stores until November 24, you can currently stream the entire thing — which features cameos by Eric Clapton, Alicia Keys, and LL Cool J — on his website.… Read More

Web

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

By Stelios Phili on

Today at Flavorpill, we considered skinny dipping. We cheered for Internet Explorer’s death. We took very bad advice from Brad Pitt and took good look at Scarlet Johansson as the black widow. We could have sworn we saw a transformer outside the office window. We laughed at a band who… Read More