This holiday season, Patrón Tequila came up with a great way to give something to your friends without emptying your wallet. With the “If” Tag app, you can select from a variety of hypothetical scenarios (such as, “If aliens invade, zombies attack, or the robots rise up, you’d be the John Connor to my Kyle Reese), and then select a friend who gets the honor of being your first choice for the gig. You can add a personal message, and then post the whole award right to your friend’s Facebook wall. We were having so much fun with it, in fact, that we decided to take it one step further and pick our top celebrity choices for a number of the “If” scenarios. Click through to see who came out on top for our editors, and why each pop-culture pick made the grade. And if you want to play too, just choose a scenario yourself and tell us who you want in on it in the comments.
While they might have been fine back when we were kids, today it seems like the world finds plain old jack-o-lanterns sad and boring. Instead, they’ve become a canvas for proudly carving allegiance to your favorite TV character, most beloved musician, or the YA series that you can’t put down. Which is great news for us! But first, a quick disclaimer: while plentiful, the selection of pop culture pumpkins isn’t quite as diverse as you might hope. We struggled to find jack-o’-lantern homages to Flavorpill favorites like Patti Smith, Liz Lemon, and Daria, only to come up empty-handed. Get on that people! That said, we think you’ll be happy with what we’ve come up with after the jump. If you happen to have a pop culture pumpkin of your own to contribute to our list, please leave us a link in the comments!
Our mothers always told us not to play with our food, but perhaps she would sing a different tune if she knew that we could earn money by making logos out of food and posting the results to a blog. Although, chewing gum and spitting it out to make 8-bit portraits of Mario still involves playing with chewed gum, so maybe Mom was right after all.
Even so, it’s still fun to look at Foo-Gos impressive food creations, even if you don’t want to make your own food art after all. There are more behind the jump, but if you just can’t get enough, be sure to check out his extensive Flickr stream.
In case you weren’t already aware, September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. But we’d rather talk about pirates than talk like them. Whether it’s the Dread Pirate Roberts, the Pittsburgh Pirates, or Germany’s newest Pirate Party, you’ll be sure to find one of your favorite swashbucklers in our exhaustive list of pop culture pirates. All hope abandon, ye who enter here.
A collaborative of Brooklyn-based multimedia artists, FAILE has been creating art with a mix of found visual imagery and cultural iconography for over a decade.
In Bedtime Stories, their first New York gallery show in three years, Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller present 12 new works assembled from printed wooden blocks arranged into what look like patchwork paintings. Initially inspired by the process of quilt-making, the playful mix of pin-up girls, cryptic text fragments, and pop-culture icons like the Tin Man and Mao Zedong makes for frenetic eye candy with a strong narrative — like fragments of a vivid dream.
[Editor's note: It's Thanksgiving, so your Flavorwire editors and writers are taking a much-needed break. We'll return to our normal publishing schedule tomorrow, but in the meantime, we'll be revisiting some of our favorite content from the past few months. This post was originally published October 8, 2010.] Believe us when we say that all cakes were not created equal. Sometimes, they can transform into something greater than a common dessert — particularly when coupled with a bit of cultural inspiration. Whether you’re a pop culture junkie who loves books, film, music, TV, or the visual arts, we’ve scoured the Internet to find the perfect cake to match your obsessive devotion. Some of them are awesomely bad, while others are edible works of art. Click through, and let us know in the comments which cake is your favorite.
Because most babies are tiny and round, it’s easy to slap them in a pumpkin costume, and call it a day. But what’s the fun — or more importantly, the future blackmail potential — in that? Wouldn’t it be so much better to dress your child up in a costume that channels your cultural obsessions? From a pint-sized Gene Simmons to an ax-wielding (and we believe, cross-dressing) Gallagher, we’ve rounded up 20 of the greatest pop-cultured inspired Halloween costumes for babies after the jump.
A Korean pop artist, Kwon Kisoo is widely known in Asia for his Dongguri character — a smiling, genderless alter-ego that romps around candy-colored landscapes. Often accompanied by a small animal, which can be read as either a dog or a cat, Dongguri is able to clone itself to have instant playmates and, when multiplied, to become an army.
Simple in nature, Kwon’s paintings are influenced by traditional Korean landscapes, which comfort viewers with pleasant scenes. Plum blossoms, bamboo, rainbows, and rivers surround the little creature to construct joyful, geometric realms, while subtly commenting on globalism and consumer culture. Blurring the boundaries between fine and commercial art, Kwon makes paintings, animations, and products — ranging from stationery and posters to sportswear and shopping bags. His Dongguri works are even available as artist theme banners to personalize your iGoogle page.
Mattel announced today a new release in the realm of “collectible” Barbies, four miniature versions of AMC stars Don Draper, his wife Betty, Roger Sterling, and Joan Holloway. (Read: dolls for adults who never take them out of the package. What 7-year-old watches Mad Men, anyway?). Retailing for $75 a pop and launching this summer to coincide with the fourth season of Mad Men, the dolls are fairly accurate, costume-wise, but seem to be missing a few key accessories. After the jump, we envision a few extras for Don and crew.
Our roundup called the Grammys “the nerdy older sister of awards shows,” and this year impressed yet again with a strong showing of irrelevance and poorly performed, manic mashup choices. We were given “Speechless” with “Your Song,” Beyonce honoring Alanis Morrissette, Jamie Foxx and opera, and other baffling choices that make you feel like the Grammy organizers have been listening to too much Girl Talk.
Unfortunately, not every hit song from 2009 earned airtime (can you imagine the hammered brothers in Kings of Leon motoring through “Use Somebody” with AC/DC?). Instead, we go to mashup artist DJ Earworm, who has created the United State of Pop 2009 by combining the top 25 songs on the Billboard chart from last year. We’ve mourned the irrelevance of the Billboard chart in the past, so the fact these songs earned a combined 25 Grammy nominations is a sobering thought. We’ve included this year’s mashup along with the United State of Pop 2008 and 2007 after the jump. Try and count how many songs you remember or wish you could forget.
