Today at Flavorpill, we learned that OK Go will be releasing a music video featuring 1,000 handmade instruments. We watched Kristen Bell have a breakdown over a sloth. We guesstimated the fashion trends that might pop up on the new season of Mad Men. We found out that Amazon Publishing’s books will not be carried at Barnes & Noble. We were mesmerized by this blue ice cave in Iceland. We were introduced to a girl who can say any word or phrase backward immediately. We loved this definitive guide to classic cocktails that breaks down 68 drinks into their constituent parts. We watched a washing machine self-destruct. We met some vikings. We felt itchy looking at this bark-style dress. We wondered if a teen art gallery was a good idea. And finally, we saw the return of the scrunchie — but we’re not sure if even a geeky 3D printed Hilbert curve-style one can make us like it.

Headbands are one of those fashion accessories that, while they never seem to completely go out of style, have unexplained resurgences every few years. If the recent smattering on the red carpet at the Golden Globes is any indication, then we’re currently in the midst of one of those popularity surges. This is great news for Hillary Clinton, a longtime headband supporter, who was sporting a festive thin black headband at last night’s State of the Union address. She’s finally on-trend! Inspired by their recent takeover, we decided round up a collection of famous headband wearers throughout the years. Let us know who we missed in the comments!

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Well, TV fans, the die is cast. Last week, The CW green-lighted The Carrie Diaries, that Sex and the City prequel network television has been threatening to inflict on us for years. Set in the ’80s, the show will follow Carrie Bradshaw’s high-school years in Connecticut, where we’re sure she’ll be asking a whole new, teen-focused slew of pseudo-profound questions (“What does ‘going steady’ really mean?”) and lusting over shoes at Contempo Casuals. But forgive us if we don’t intend to watch the show for long enough to find out. Like Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon, we’ve had our fill of Carrie. In fact, the only good thing we can imagine coming from the prequel is that it inspired us brainstorm some adult TV characters who already have kid equivalents on other shows. Find out who Zack Morris grew up to be, and which kid reminds us of Downton Abbey’s Dowager Countess, after the jump.

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Today at Flavorpill, we imaged what this teddy bear skin rug would feel like beneath our feet. We learned about the science behind bursting water balloons in this video. We were pretty impressed by the art of Jello origami. We wondered if microwavable footwear would be the next Snuggie sensation. We tried to tell the difference between Lady Gaga and Jem in this fun quiz posted at Mental Floss. We were glad to hear that Lindsay Lohan got gold stars on her probation report. We read about the return of Atari. We weren’t shocked to learn about this Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark countersuit against director Julie Taymor. We counted the werewolves in this trailer for FDR: American Badass!. We enjoyed this solo performance by Adam Ben Ezra covering the Mad Men theme, live and on upright bass. We approved of this Lord of the Rings manicure. And finally, we saw where all the trees in the U.S. were located and determined that the Midwest won’t be enjoying a shady picnic anytime soon.

Ah, yes. It’s been about a year and half since we’ve been in this situation, but now we remember: This is what it’s like to gear up for a new season of Mad Men. We scour interviews with actors and showrunners, scrutinize every set photo that leaks, and pounce on every new piece of publicity material AMC deigns to release. So, it’s time for our first major freakout of the Mad Men anticipation season: We have a teaser poster, and it is a doozy.

In a way, the image of an unidentified man in a suit falling headfirst into the air (which, unfortunately, will never not recall 9/11), is nothing new. It’s ripped from the show’s opening credits, which we’ve been watching for a good four seasons now. But it’s pretty scary that AMC is focusing on this moment in particular. If Season 4 saw Don Draper’s picture-perfect family fall apart as TV’s smoothest operator dissolved into tears in front of his underling, then what does it mean that Season 5 — which, remember, comes after he gets engaged to a beautiful, young secretary — is the one where he’s metaphorically jumping out of a building and/or floating in grayscale nothingness?

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1. In case you haven’t heard the thrilling news yet, the long-awaited Season 5 premiere of Mad Men on March 25, which was penned by series creator Matthew Weiner, is going to be a delicious two hours long. [via Vulture]

2. Contraband, Mark Wahlberg’s new thriller about an ex drug smuggler forced to get back into the game, surprised us all by wining the top spot at the weekend box office, taking in an estimated $24 million. Beauty and the Beast 3-D came in second place, with $18.5 million in ticket sales, and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol — which has already made more than the original Mission: Impossible movie — rounded out the top three with a $11.5 million draw. [via ArtsBeat]

3. Taking the company’s unhealthy obsession with giant glass structures to a whole new level, a planned Apple Store in Aix en Provence, France is basically going to be invisible. [via Gizmodo]

4. Multiple medical marijuana dispensaries in LA are selling a new strain of marijuana called “OG Blue Ivy,” in homage to Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s new baby daughter Blue Ivy Carter. In related news: an Australian researcher has named a horsefly that has a golden butt after Beyoncé. [via NME, EW]

5. According to the Daily Express, two members of the Downton Abbey cast, Elizabeth McGovern and Michelle Dockery (aka Countess of Grantham and her daughter Lady Mary), are recording an album together that’s due out later this year.

Bonus Buzz: Top 2 Tina Fey Photobombs at the Golden Globes

As we may have mentioned, we are pretty excited to see Absolutely Fabulous back on TV. We missed Patsy and Edina, we missed Saffy, we missed Gran, and we especially missed Bubble, Eddy’s walking acid trip of an assistant. But it wasn’t until we read Tom & Lorenzo’s great blog post about the show’s return that we realized we had been longing for more than just the characters. As they note, Eddy has one hell of a kitchen, and it feels great to watch the cast sip coffee and chug champagne in it again. The Monsoon kitchen and 14 others that we wouldn’t minding owning are after the jump.

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Deadline has posted the Paley Center for Media’s 2012 PaleyFest TV panel schedule, and it has us seriously considering an early-March trip to Los Angeles. Sure, there are a few duds on the list (Two and a Half Men, really?), but the offerings are pretty compelling on the whole. The big news, of course, is Mad Men, which will be featured less than two weeks before its premiere in a panel that’s sure to reveal some valuable info about Season 5. We’re also excited to see our favorite new trashy drama, Revenge, on the schedule — and who isn’t interested to hear what Ryan Murphy and his staff have to say for themselves after the first season of horror camp-fest American Horror Story? Oh, and Community fans? PaleyFest’s got you covered, too. Check out the full lineup after the jump.

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John Hamm shared the news on the Doug Loves Movies podcast last week that AMC’s Mad Men will be debuting season five on March 25. AMC hasn’t confirmed or denied his statement, but we’ll just ignore that for now, because it’s been far too long since we’ve delighted in the New York City ad crew’s company — October 2010 to be exact. Hamm will apparently also direct the premiere episode. Pan Am and The Playboy Club recently tried to recreate that 1960′s magic in its absence with no success. Hopefully AMC fesses up soon, because the anti-anxiety cocktails you’ve been nursing during the year-long wait are probably starting to become a liability. [via The Washington Post]

It’s been almost a decade since Jennifer Saunders graced us with a new episode of Absolutely Fabulous, much to the dismay of fans around the world. But thanks to the magic of the BBC, where it’s never impossible to revive a great show, Patsy and Edina are finally back. To celebrate AbFab‘s 20th anniversary (yes, that makes us feel old), the original cast reunited for three half-hour specials — and the first one airs Sunday night, on both BBC America and Logo.

Having seen the first one, we can safely say that Saunders hasn’t lost her touch. Among other developments, we learn that one of the characters is in prison — and while it’s probably not who you’d think, nothing we could learn about the three generations of Monsoon women would shock us at this point. So, as an homage to one of our favorite dysfunctional families on the small screen, we’ve rounded up ten more we wouldn’t want to see on Thanksgiving but can’t stop watching on TV.

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