Today at Flavorpill, we couldn’t believe that the giant Lego man that we told you about last week that washed up on a Florida beach is now in — we kid you not! — police custody. We were glad that Splitsider took the time to rank all 66 segments from every “Treehouse of Horror” episode of The Simpsons because we don’t think that we’d have the energy to do so ourselves. We liked Lady Gaga’s latest Indian flag-inspired hair color. We listened to Karen O perform “Duet,” a song from her recently-debuted “psycho-opera” Stop the Virgens. We wondered if Anderson Cooper felt awkward about meeting Phil Donahue while dressed up as Phil Donahue. We learned the science behind what makes people pee when they’re scared. We had our hearts warmed. We were thrilled to hear that American Horror Story has been picked up for a second season by FX. We watched a time-lapse video of the Google doodle team carving some giant pumpkins to make today’s doodle. We found this piece about the “cordial enmity” between Pauline Kael and Joan Didion a fascinating read. And finally, we were convinced that this was by far the sexiest Hungry-Man Dinner costume that we’ve ever seen. Now if only someone would make Sexy Inexplicable Melancholy a reality, our Halloween night would be complete!

Given that Tim Robbins founded the Actors Gang in response to a lack of opportunities for independent writers and actors to produce socially and politically salient new work, it’s no surprise that his response to the threat of a paralyzing budget crunch was to curate an ambitious ten-week festival of theatre, dance, music, conversation, performance, and education. The WTF?! Festival brings together scores of voices as diverse as those of Tom Morello, Naomi Klein, Gore Vidal, John Doe, Sarah Silverman, anti-war Veterans, and members of Cirque du Soleil — all in the name of saving one of the country’s bravest voices for progressive art by raising not only money, but awareness.

Flavorpill’s Shana Nys Dambrot caught up with Robbins on the eve of the LA festival to talk politics, art, and record collections. Read More »