As one television season comes to its inevitable end, and a number of our favorite shows have either finished for the summer (or for good) we’ve compiled a suggested reading list of books to binge on and fill the void of your favorite shows while we wait impatiently for them to return next season. Readers and television bingers alike, don’t forget to leave your suggestions in the comments. … Read More
Nora Ephron
The Best Punchlines in Film
A couple of weeks back, we perused the entirety of film history and pulled out our very favorite break-up lines — the meanest, the sharpest, and the funniest. For a follow-up, we decided to focus on the latter: selecting some of the best punchlines ever uttered in movies. By definition, a punchline isn’t just a funny bit of dialogue or an amusingly awkward moment: it’s the payoff to a setup, whether in situation or dialogue, and thus must be carefully teed up and smoothly executed. We think these 25 examples do just that, with panache. … Read More
The 25 Greatest Essay Collections of All Time
This week marks the release of Aleksandar Hemon’s excellent book of personal essays, The Book of My Lives, which we loved, and which we’re convinced deserves a place in the literary canon. To that end, we were inspired to put together our list of the greatest essay collections of all time, from the classic to the contemporary, from the personal to the critical. In making our choices, we’ve steered away from posthumous omnibuses and multi-author compilations, and given what might be undue weight to our favorite writers (as one does). Click through to see our nominations for the 25 greatest essay collections of all… Read More
10 Lists That Read Like Poems
If you’re a frequent visitor to this space, you know that we rather enjoy lists here at Flavorpill. Recently, we found our habit (compulsion?) affirmed by Katie Kitamura’s excellent article on listmaking, “Literary Lists: Proof of Our Existence,” over at The Guardian. In it, Kitamura discussed the appeal of the list, particularly in literature, quoting Umberto Eco, who said, “We have a limit, a very discouraging, humiliating limit: death. That’s why we like all the things that we assume have no limits and, therefore, no end. It’s a way of escaping thoughts about death. We like lists because we don’t want to die.” She goes on to write that “it requires real faith in the powers of fiction beyond style, in the formal aspect of language and its ability to approximate infinity.” Indeed. Inspired by Kitamura’s description of the form, we’ve hunted around for ten great lists, from literary sources and otherwise, that seem like they could be poems in and of themselves. Read through for some list-y inspiration after the jump, and add your own favorites to our infinite list of lists in the comments. … Read More
20 Excellent Photos of Famous Authors Partying
Whether they be bad boys (or bad girls), dirty old men or just legendary party animals, there’s no denying that the literary set knows how to get down. From dance parties to book parties to whatever’s going on in that car, writers are adept at letting off steam, and so this year, we thought we’d get a little New Year’s celebration inspiration from a few of our favorite authors. And hey, if you’re still trying to figure out your signature cocktail at this late hour, you can model that on your favorite writer too. After the jump, raise a glass with everyone from Ernest Hemingway to Rita Dove to Nora Ephron. Happy New Year’s Eve, everybody. … Read More
10 of the Funniest American Essayists of Our Time
Like many of you, this week we were saddened to hear of the death of phenomenal and darkly comic essayist David Rakoff, who had been battling cancer for many years. To celebrate his life and the great literature he left us with, we’ve put together a list of some of the funniest modern essayists, who like Rakoff, are following in the giant footsteps of Mark Twain, Dorothy Parker and James Thurber as America’s great humorists. We’ve tried to limit ourselves to purely contemporary writers, but since we’ve lost several hilarious and essential voices all too recently, we’ve cheated just a bit. Read through our list after the jump, and since these are only our personal preferences plucked from a very long list, be sure to add your own favorites in the comments. … Read More
The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories
1. Yes, she’s been publicly naked in a bathtub before, but it’s pretty weird that Wayne Coyne is talking about replacing Erykah Badu with Amanda Palmer in a re-shot version of the Flaming Lips’ controversial video for “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” right? [via NME]
2. Apparently LA Noir, Frank… Read More
What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office
Today at Flavorpill, we loved this collaboration between Japanese beatboxer Hikakin and Cali-based dancer Nonstop. We read the inevitable barrage of Tweets about moving to Canada because of ObamaCare. We got teary over Tom Hanks’ tribute to Nora Ephron. We said happy birthday to Mel Brooks. We learned… Read More
The Wisdom of Nora Ephron: 20 Invaluable Pieces of Advice
When Liz Smith prematurely (and opportunistically) reported yesterday afternoon that Nora Ephron had died, I didn’t want to believe it could be true. But when the writer and filmmaker’s passing was confirmed a few hours later, all I could think about was an evening I was fortunate enough to spend in her presence a few months ago, when Lena Dunham screened Ephron’s directorial debut, 1992′s terribly underrated This Is My Life, as part of a series of movies about female friendship at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Although the film held up beautifully, it was the Q&A session afterward that stuck with me, in which Ephron spoke boldly and candidly about her time in the industry, recalling the positive and negative aspects with intelligence and insight.
It’s that very intelligence and insight that will surely be her legacy, in movies and books and essays that get at both small and huge truths about life and love. So I can’t think of a better way to remember her than to compile some of her greatest revelations, which span from fashion advice to exhortations to get the most out of life to rapturous celebrations of food. Nora Ephron really loved food. … Read More
The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories
1. Just a day after the trailer was released, the full version of Lana Del Rey’s video for “National Anthem” — in which she plays both Marilyn Monroe and Jackie O opposite of A$AP Rocky’s JFK — has arrived online.
2. If you’re lucky enough to be going to San Diego Comic-Con this… Read More
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