1. So, Kanye West performed his new album last night at Bowery Ballroom, and he said some things. Ten minutes worth of things. Namely about George Bush and Taylor Swift. (video) [via The Awl]
2. Not that we usually care about Dancing with the Stars, but we have to admit that we’re thankful that Jennifer Grey triumphed over Bristol Palin. Should we all take this as a sign that Dirty Dancing fans are more powerful than the Tea Party? [via Vulture]
3. Good news for fashionistas/Francophiles: IFC has acquired the rights to Pierre Thorentton’s French documentary Yves Saint Laurent L’Amour Fou, and it will be released in 2011. [via Deadline]
4. Facebook has trademarked the word “face.” At least when it comes to “[t]elecommunication services, namely, providing online chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among computer users in the field of general interest and concerning social and entertainment subject matter, none primarily featuring or relating to motoring or to cars.” [via Gizmodo]
5. Gawker has settled their lawsuit with HarperCollins, and agreed not to re-post excerpts from Sarah Palin’s upcoming memoir, America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag. [via GalleyCat]

Bonus link: Songs for Stuffing: An NPR Thanksgiving Mix

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has finally done it. Every cent — or pence as it were — of the nearly £5 million he received as an advance (and any resulting royalties) for his memoir A Journey: My Political Life will go to the Royal British Legion, a charity dedicated to the welfare of past and current UK servicemen and women. Though the book isn’t released until September 1 in the UK (September 2, stateside), The Guardian reports that Blair is already climbing the bestseller charts.

Political memoirs have always been popular. Time magazine has a list of the Top Ten Political Memoirs, which while historically sweeping, is not nearly as entertaining as the Washington Post‘s nominees for the “Least Accurate Memoirs.” Recently, with publishers leaning on celebrity authors for assured sales, there’s been a glut of this once honored format. Here, we walk you through a few of the biggies.

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With The Beatles: Rock Band and the band’s entire remastered catalog hitting retail shops today, it’s no wonder that we hear more rumors that EMI, the Fab Four’s floundering label, and Apple, ye proprietor of the country’s largest retail music shop, finally reached a deal to sell the Beatles catalog on iTunes. Sky News would have you believe it’s true, quoting Yoko Ono as their source. Of course, Sky News removed the link almost immediately after publishing, though not before a host of news services picked up on the story. Read More »

“Britney Spears didn’t invent the dirty pun in her new song title. She stole it from Joyce and Shakespeare.”

VH1 is bringing back Behind the Music! And they’ve landed Lil Wayne!

Sorry if this makes you lose your breakfast: Bush has allegedly already written 30,000 words of his $7 million dollar book.

Maybe we judged Heathers: The Musical to soon… we’ll just have to wait and see who they land to play Martha Dumptruck.

Are quips about stem cell research the new yo mama joke?

Dog portraits (We’re resisting the urge to pun.)

Sony’s sad attempt to challenge the Kindle is oh so Sony.

Scenes from the recession (photo gallery)

This New York Post cover speaks for itself.

“Italian visionaries Studiomobile present their Seawater Vertical Farm…It’s infrastructure with just a streak of WTF.”

Interesting read about how cultural institutions are creating new ways to engage people…including Flavorpill’s yoga class at MoMA!

Barack Obama’s first day in office was January 20th, which was also the evening of the first preview for You’re Welcome America. A Final Night With George W. Bush. While you might have had enough of Bush in the past eight years, it seems Will Ferrell has not had enough of playing his infamous Dubya character. And despite that little problem known as the recession, $837,000 in first week ticket sales suggests that America’s not done with him either. Maybe it’s some kind of national Patty Hearst Syndrome?

Before you pick up and move to Canada, as most reviews point out, the big (and possibly only) draw for You’re Welcome America is its star, not the show itself. After the jump, see why we’ll be saving $100 by renting Old School and waiting to watch this one on HBO for free.

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Books: Sam Jordison of the Guardian points out that these days, the smartest way to entertain yourself is picking up one of those books you bought ages ago but never found the time to read.

Dance/Opera: The Washington Post reveals that Twyla Tharp might be 67 years old but she still does 75 push-ups a day and isn’t afraid to kick your butt.

Design: When invited to participated in the White House’s first invitation-by-congressional districts Christmas tree decorating, don’t make an ornament that calls for President Bush’s impeachment. Or do, but don’t expect that Laura’s going to be very happy with you.

Film: Rachel Getting Married tops New York Magazine critic David Edelstein‘s list of the year’s best films. We just don’t get it.

Music: Fifty years of popular songs condensed into single sentences — most involving the words “do it.” Thank you McSweeney’s.

Television: ABC is bringing DC Comics’s Fables — Bill Willingham’s story about a group of fairytale characters who have been ousted from their homes and create a secret New York community — to TV. We’ve seen some bearded hipsters running around Williamsburg who’d be just perfect for the part of the Big Bad Wolf.

Theatre: Saturday Night Live alum Rachel Dratch and Norm from Cheers are joining forces in L.A. for a staging of Minksy’s, a “a big, racy, new musical comedy set in a time when entertainment was about legs and laughs.” Oy.

Visual Arts: The Independent asks, should fashion photography count as art? Poor Richard Avedon just rolled over in his grave.

Web: This week’s possibly NSFW SNL Digital Short featuring the first single from the Lonely Island boys’s upcoming album INCREDIBAD is already making the viral rounds. Andy Samberg is always hit or miss: so which one is this?

According to Reuters, former Fugees producer/rapper John Forte was one of the 14 offenders listed in Bush’s first round of presidential pardons — a power that we find absolutely NUTS. Before Forte was arrested for drug trafficking in 2000 for lugging around a briefcase containing $1.4 million worth of cocaine, he studied violin at the Phillips Exeter Academy and worked with the Fugees on their debut, The Score.

He’s BFF with Carly Simon’s son, Ben Taylor; both have been advocating on Forte’s behalf claiming an unfair trial and sentence based the fact that he was a firsttime offender and it was a non-violent crime. We guess it pays to suck up to the right children of ’70s legends.

Several bigger names are still waiting for their pardons from W., including Conrad Black, Marion Jones, and John Walker Lindh, the infamous “American Taliban.”

Today at Flavorpill when we were supposed to be busy working we said ‘hebbo’ to Tarvuism, let Google do the dirty work for us, drooled over these handsome book covers, discovered that it’s definitely not Christmas yet, wondered why cyclists are acting out in New York, and almost felt sorry for George Bush.

Almost.

All the politicians are writing books: After leaving D.C. GEORGE BUSH will watch the world undo his damage and he will write a book. But so, it seems, will LAURA. She is being highly secretive about her plans, but she’s meeting with publishing execs to discuss a seven-figure memoir. Will their stories match? Will they let each other read the drafts? Will Laura’s book inevitably outsell W’s? And even though she didn’t make it to the White House, SARAH PALIN is also eyeing a book deal. Maybe she’ll reveal details about her kids’ names. [Reuters]

And in the meantime Obama reads some poems: While GEORGE BUSH nominates cowboys for THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT OF THE ARTS, we’re giddy that BARACK OBAMA reads poetry. Or at least carries it around. He was spotted last week carrying a volume of Nobel winner DEREK WALCOTT’s collected works. Maybe he needed a break from reading comics. [UPI]

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OMG, PRESIDENT BUSH must be stealing moves from Blair Waldorf’s playbook.

In a not so subtle dig against the liberal, culture-loving elite, he has appointed country singer LEE GREENWOOD — famous for penning “God, Bless the USA” — to a six-year term on the NATIONAL COUNCIL ON THE ARTS. From their Web site: “The Presidential appointments, by law, are selected for their widely recognized knowledge of the arts or their expertise or profound interest in the arts.”

Well played Dubya. We hope that Greenwood wears his his trademark Stars and Stripes windbreaker to meetings with NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS chairman DANA GIOIA.

After the jump, Flavorwire wagers guesses about who else was on Bush’s shortlist of candidates. Be sure to tell us who we’ve missed in the comments.

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