Back in December, we learned that James Murphy, released from his LCD Soundsystem voice-of-a-generation duties, has taken up acting. In some total no-brainer casting, he stars alongside Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim in The Comedy, a film about bored, aging Brooklyn hipster dudes. Although the movie doesn’t have a release date yet, director Rick Alverson has posted an early clip, giving us a chance to check out Murphy’s chops. Well, sort of. While Murphy is sitting between Tim and Eric in a cab as they mercilessly mock the driver, he doesn’t exactly say anything. He does do a pretty nice job chuckling along, though!

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1. All of the details for Trent Reznor’s soundtrack for David Fincher’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which he composed with Atticus Ross, have been released — including the fact that it’s over three hours long. You can also now hear the full version of Reznor and Karen O‘s cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song,” as well as a 35-minute sampler of the album, here.

2. Evidently, James Murphy is an actor now. He has a supporting role in The Comedy, a film that stars Tim Heidecker (of Tim and Eric Awesome Show fame) as a guy who “whiles away his days with a group of aging Brooklyn hipsters, engaging in acts of recreational cruelty and pacified boredom.” Okkervil River’s Will Sheff is in it, too. [via Pitchfork]

3. “I was just thinking about my funeral and stuff a couple days ago and thinking who would be at the funeral People who I want to be in the funeral? I wanna have world leaders that were, like, affected, that said, you know, ‘Kanye gave me my shot here.’ Or ‘he pushed me,’ or ‘he told me to believe in myself,’ or ‘when I saw this, it made me feel like that.’ I wanna affect people like that when I, like, pass away.” – Evidently, Kanye West is feeling a bit reflective these days.

4. Showrunner Steven Moffat claims that in spite of what David Yates recently said, there are no real plans for a Doctor Who movie at the moment, and if it does happen, the film will need to star whoever is playing the Doctor on the TV series at that time, and not some Hollywood actor. That’s good news for Matt Smith. [via The Sun]

5. According to Men’s Health magazine, these are the 10 happiest and saddest cities in America. Are you as surprised as we are by a few of the “happiest” cities?

Bonus Buzz: 15 Muppets Auditioning For Other Roles

1. Kenneth Mars, a character actor best known for his roles in Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein and The Producers (but who will always be remembered by us as the regal voice of Grandpa Longneck from The Land Before Time), died Saturday at the age of 75. [via THR]

2. Glenn Beck believes that Muse was trying to start a revolution with their performance at The Grammys because of where they’re from: “You have to remember these are Europeans…they have had very few glimpses of real freedom. Even when England won the Second World War, they didn’t go into freedom. That’s where the Road to Serfdom came from.” [via Gawker]

3. If the idea of getting married at a McDonald’s sounds appealing to you, then you might need to plan a destination wedding to Hong Kong, where a “McWedding” service launched at select locations back in January. The typical package — which costs $1282 — includes gifts, invitation cards, decor featuring Ronald McDonald and The Hamburglar, and lots and lots of fast food. [via Gothamist]

4. After the city of Detroit refused to provide funding for a 7-foot tall iron statue of Robocop to go up near Michigan Central Station, a Kickstarter project is already over a third of the way toward its $50,000 goal. [via Boing Boing]

5. “I’m 41. I think it gets embarrassing… There’s a lot of things I wanna do. I like making coffee.” – LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy explained why he’s quitting the band on last night’s Colbert Report

Bonus link: Watching an extremely awkward model wipe out on the runway shouldn’t be this funny.

As you probably already know, Flavorpill works with a variety of amazing venue partners in each of our cities — from cultural institutions that have been around forever, like The Metropolitan Museum of Art, to more indie hot spots, like The Empty Bottle in Chicago. Since these guys are literally on the ground when it comes to cool, cultural events, we’ve asked a handful of our featured venues to share their favorite cultural moments of the year with you. Click through to see what they said, and be sure to leave your own favorite moment in the comments.

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Many kids dream of growing up as someone else — in a royal family, on a distant planet, or as a movie star. But such aspirations don’t sound quite as fun in the long run as having amazing musicians for parents. By the time most rockers hit 40, they’ve calmed down enough to make a family and have years of experience to draw on for wisdom and guidance. And it’s not just any experience — the music industry often throws curve balls at its participants, and any parent who has had to contend with predatory label reps or getting their gear stolen on tour knows a thing or two more about overcoming obstacles than the average mom or dad does. Living in one of these seven artists’ households means a great record collection and a creative atmosphere to keep you company — even when you’re grounded.

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Today at Flavorpill, we watched food fight itself and cats listen to Devo. We met the girls of eBay. We weren’t sure why anyone would want to put their face on a condom wrapper. We had a super rare Bigfoot sighting. We found Marlene Dietrech’s personalized letterhead absolutely stunning. We kind of wished that minotaurs were the new vampires. We listened to Lissie cover Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness.” We found out how Lost executive producer Damon Lindelof would clean up the BP oil spill. We judged James Murphy by his iTunes playlist. We were scared by all 10 different versions of evil Pac-Man. We wondered what kind of depraved thieves would steal a 5-foot-4 ballerina’s slippers. And finally, we decided that tentacled characters are the best characters. Especially Dr. Zoidberg.

Remember fact checking? Now that the print media apocalypse has hit, it basically doesn’t exist anymore. And that has resulted in some truly incredible corrections in all journalistic niches. But ever since a certain Sri Lankan rapper met a certain New York Times magazine writer, we’ve had flawed music reporting on the brain. After the jump, check out the six most epic corrections of the past year and remind us of any we missed (due to our lack of staff researchers, no doubt) in the comments.

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We’re not sure exactly what we expected the video for LCD Soundsystem’s party anthem “Drunk Girls” to look like. Perhaps a scenario with more (rather, any) drunk girls in it. But in a way, basing the thing around a maniacal gang of trouble-making pandas makes perfect sense — as Flavorpill music editor Judy Berman says, James Murphy is one of the great indie-rock teddy bears. If you’re short on time, skip to the 3 minute mark. That’s when people’s pants start coming off. Note: There’s a rumor circulating that the clip was directed by none other than Spike Jonze. Update: It’s true!

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Ben Stiller, who’s currently promoting his new Noah Baumbach movie, Greenberg (which opens in New York and LA this Friday), recently dropped by Between Two Ferns for an interview with Zach Galifianikis. Among the topics discussed: the “Blue Steel” look from Jewlander, a possible lighthouse attendant role for Zach in A Night at the Museum 3, and possible regrets Ben might have about not following his parents into comedy. Watch the video after the jump, and get the details on our Greenberg giveaway. One lucky winner will take home a green iPod shuffle and a James Murphy sampler!

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In the trailer for Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg, Ben Stiller (who plays the title character) complains that no one calls him on his birthday anymore, writes an angry letter to Starbucks, and worries that he’ll catch the illness that’s afflicting his dog. “I’m freaked out by you kids because your parents were too perfect at parenting, all that Baby Mozart and Dan Zanes songs. You’re all ADD and carpal tunnel,” he says to a room full of 20-somethings. “I hope I die before I end up meeting one of you in a job interview.”

Yes, it looks like Greenberg, which comes out next March, is Baumbach’s take on aging. After the jump, check out the first trailer and follow along as we pass premature judgment.

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