F

Flavorwire

Hunter S. Thompson

Web

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

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we wondered if aliens are really responsible for the gentrification of Williamsburg. We learned a lot about the science behind kissing. We decided that if The Fantastic Mr. Star Fox was a real movie, we’d totally pay to see it in the theater. We found out… Read More

Pop Culture

The 10 Most Iconic Sunglasses of All Time

By Emily Temple on

Let’s face it: nothing instantly ups your cool quota better than a set of killer sunglasses. There’s just something so mysterious and, well, bad-ass about a great pair of sunglasses, and perhaps that’s why so many celebrities rock them 24/7 and so many set designers push them as the essential cool-kid movie props. As far as, you know, shielding your eyes from the sun? Well, that’s obviously an afterthought. They come in a million different shapes and sizes, but some sunglasses — and the celebrities and characters who popularized them — are iconic artifacts of our collective culture. Click through to see our countdown of the 10 most iconic sunglasses of all time, and don’t forget to let us know what we’ve missed. … Read More

Web

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

By Sam Schlinkert on

Today at Flavorpill, we wondered how someone could write 85,000 books — and then we met Philip M. Parker. We envied Hunter S. Thompson’s boldness when applying for a newspaper job. We stopped wondering who would win a McCain-Palin v. Obama-Biden game of NBA Jam. We applauded redditor AWBDancer in … Read More

Books

Against Promotional Author Photographs

By Paul Hiebert on

Excellent authors avoid writing cliches. The problem is that some of these very authors do not apply the same level of vigilance when it comes to taking promotional photographs, whether they’re for magazine profiles or back-of-the-book biographies. In an attempt to look uniquely profound yet accessible, or convey some novel combination of deep thoughts with good times, a lot of writers end up looking exactly the same as their peers. It doesn’t matter if the authors are well-established or just scheduling their first panel discussion — all are susceptible to producing hackneyed images.

Since we don’t expect authors to be virtuosos in every medium, we thought we’d take a critical look at five categories of promotional-author photography as a warning for all future writers who want to break out of the formula. … Read More

Books

Five Fittingly Peculiar Author Tributes

By Rob Hebert on

Geeks everywhere got a “raging brainer” (thank you, Professor Farnsworth) last week when a photo surfaced of Ray Bradbury reacting to the bubblegum-pop send-up “Fuck Me, Ray Bradbury.” It’s a beautiful thing to learn that one of the greatest sci-fi writers of all time lived long enough to see his own tribute — even if it was foul-mouthed and tongue-in-cheek. With that in mind, here are five other (more SFW) tributes to some famous authors who are no longer with us. … Read More

Books

8 Authors You Must Read Before Starting College

By Judy Berman on

Yesterday, we pored over Slate staffers’ wonderful, diverse, and irreverent list of books they recommend students read before starting college in the fall. Their picks ranged from Saul Bellow to Joseph Mitchell to Zadie Smith… and an essential tome on how to brew your own beer. After adding some of their suggestions to our own to-read list, we got to thinking about the authors that you really need to read before you set off for college, that halfway house to adulthood — the writers whose work is too wide-eyed, precocious, idealistic, dramatic, drug-fueled, or otherwise youthful to fully appreciate once you’re holding down a 9-to-5 and paying rent. They aren’t necessarily “childish” writers but simply legends you might hate if you’ve never looked at them with a teenager’s eyes. We suggest that those of you with only a month left until you move into the dorms get started now. … Read More

Books

The Collision of Classic Literature & Video Games

By Bethany Larson on

Last week, we learned that a video game version of The Great Gatsby exists. While we’re not opposed to adapting classics into video games as a general rule (see Dante’s Inferno), this one doesn’t even sound like fun. From the official description: “Attend extravagant parties and lush gatherings as you dance the Charleston with a happy couple harboring scintillating secrets.” You know, so that you can be as bored by it all as Gatsby was. In response, we’ve come up with a list of 10 equally unlikely classics that would actually make great games. Check them out after the jump, and add your own suggestions in comments. … Read More

Web

The 10 Weirdest Celebrity Funerals

By Margaret Eby on

It’s coming up on the one-year anniversary of that three-ring circus that was Michael Jackson’s funeral — we hope you kept your rhinestone-encrusted gloves at the ready — and though 2010 hasn’t seen anything quite that spectacular, we’ve already had our share of bizarre celebrity memorials. There’s Corey Haim’s family’s fight with the city of Toronto over who should pay for his funeral, and Gary Coleman’s request to have his ashes scattered over train tracks. But these pale in comparison to some of the, um, death-styles of the rich and famous. From having your mourners smoke your ashes to being buried in  piano-shaped tomb, we present the craziest celebrity funerals of all time. … Read More

Books

First Impressions: Our 30 Favorite Opening Lines in Literature

By Adam Wilson on

The Millions recently posted the very Shteyngart-y opening passage of Gary Shteyngart’s forthcoming novel, Super Sad True Love Story.

“Today I’ve made a major decision: I am never going to die. Others will die around me. They will be nullified. Nothing of their personality will remain. The light switch will be turned off.”

It got us thinking about our own favorite beginnings, both recent and classic. Below are some favorites from our bookshelf. Feel free to add your own picks in the comments section.

1. Slumberland by Paul Beatty

Best commentary on “post-blackness” considering Obama wasn’t even president when the book was written:

“You would think they’d be used to me by now. I mean don’t they know that after fourteen hundred years the charade of blackness is over? That we blacks, the once eternally hip, the people who were as right now as Greenwich Mean Time, are, as of today, as yesterday as stone tools, the velocipede, and the paper straw all rolled into one? The Negro is now officially human. Everyone, even the British, says so.” … Read More

Art

Exclusive: An Interview With LA-Based Artist Cole Sternberg

By Jane McCarthy on

Employing watercolor, heavy oils, and spray paint, LA-based artist, Cole Sternberg, blends mediums to produce visually striking works. Paint often obscures text in his compositions, which at first glance may appear messy, but are in fact laid out to convey detailed narratives, be it a representation of Bob Dylan’s Masters of War, an infamous Hunter S. Thompson episode or a particularly unforgettable break-up.

On a recent Saturday, Sternberg arrived at Culver City’s Kinsey/DesForges gallery riled-up from an earlier meeting with Los Angeles Art Association’s board where the debate got heated over how to best help the city’s emerging artists. After walking Flavorpill’s Jane McCarthy through his current exhibition, Sternberg chatted about celebrity culture, spray paint, and how he’d like to get his hands on a Monet (for the second time).… Read More