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A Selection of Celebrities Responding to Their Own Internet Memes

By Victoria McNally on

The Internet is a terrifying place for anyone with even the smallest amount of name recognition. After all, look what it did to Rebecca Black, and she wasn’t even remotely famous or popular before Reddit, 4chan, and Tumblr got a hold of her. It stands to reason that celebrities are at least a little aware of the crazy stuff we do with their likenesses online, but it’s still always a bit of a shock to hear an actor actually talking about a meme or a fan work. We put together some of our favorite instances of this particular phenomenon – just don’t freak out when you find out that your favorite TV or movie stars know about the fan fiction you write! … Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we were blown away by Seth Casteel’s awesome underwater dog photography. We met the oldest thing in the world. We watched Daniel Radcliffe pick up right where Ralph Fiennes left off with the Harry Potter erotic fan fiction. We appreciated Maura Johnston’s handy guide… Read More

Pop Culture

What YouTube’s Most Watched Videos of 2011 Say About Us

By Alison Nastasi on

Always offering a slice of life, YouTube has revealed their top ten viral videos of the year. The most-watched clips include talking animals, babies, creeps, and Michael Bolton (not to be confused with “creeps”). Check out the list past the break where we try to figure out what each ranking says about us as a society. Leave your theories below. … Read More

Web

Watch Google’s ‘Zeitgeist: Year in Review’ Video

By Caroline Stanley on

Whether or not you personally enjoy Facebook’s new Timeline design, it certainly makes one thing obvious: nothing tells the story of who we were at any given moment better than what we were posting about online. Perhaps that’s why we always find Google’s Zeitgeist roundups so fascinating; by examining the most searched names of the year, we get a handy snapshot of what dominated the cultural conversation — at least on the Internet. Yet as with Timeline, the results can be both a bit confusing and embarrassing. Take for example, this year’s most frantically searched topic, Rebecca Black of “Friday” fame, with the strange bedfellows of Google+, Ryan Dunn, Casey Anthony, and Battlefield 3 filling out the top five. Hopefully we haven’t scared you off yet. Click through to see the most Googled people, places, and things of 2011 distilled into a handy clip, and if you’re interested really getting your hands dirty digging through the various top 10 lists, head over to the official Zeitgeist site. … Read More

Pop Culture

The Most Surprising Twitter Trends of 2011

By Alison Nastasi on

Twitter has revealed its top trending topics for 2011 — a list that always manages to surprise us on some level every year. With millions of voices chattering in one place, the breakdown provides a fascinating snapshot of popular culture — and yes, highlights plenty of trends we should probably feel embarrassed about wasting our precious 140 characters on. If you told us on New Year’s Day that some of these names, events, and subjects would have been the words at everyone’s fingertips, we’d have been shocked. What didn’t trend is equally curious, and we examine it all past the break. Ignore the insane ramblings of today’s “#nevertrustagirl” and “#YouKnowAFatPersonInvented” topics, and see what surprised us in this year in review. Leave your picks below. … Read More

Web

10 Internet Memes That Became Commercials

By Judy Berman on

Just when we thought the Rebecca Black meme had finally gone the way of All Your Base, it’s back — in the form of a Kohl’s commercial encouraging us to shop on Black Friday, no less. Over the weekend, we saw the ad just about every time we turned on our TV, to our great despair. The ordeal got us thinking about the big business of Internet memes, which are turning up more and more often in mainstream advertisements. After the jump, we look at Antoine Dodson, Honey Badger, and many more online celebrities who became pitchmen. … Read More

News

The Morning's Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon brought in another $47 million at the box office this weekend, making it the highest-grossing film so far this year at $261 million. What’s possibly even more depressing: Zookeeper managed to take in $21 million during its debut weekend. Shame on you, America. [via TV Guide]

2.… Read More

Web

What's On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds in Our Office

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we were impressed by Kate Middleton’s incredibly appropriate Canada Day hat. We streamed a rather promising song from the upcoming Wu-Tang Clan album. We were thrilled by the news that Bridesmaids is now the highest-grossing Judd Apatow-produced movie of all time after knocking aside Knocked Up.… Read More

Books

Literary Mixtape: Veruca Salt

By Emily Temple on

If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite literary characters might be listening to while they save the world/contemplate existence/get into trouble, or hallucinated a soundtrack to go along with your favorite novels, well, us too. But wonder no more! Here, we sneak a look at the hypothetical iPods of some of literature’s most interesting characters. What would be on the personal playlists of Holden Caulfield or Elizabeth Bennett, Huck Finn or Harry Potter, Tintin or Humbert Humbert? Something revealing, we bet. Or at least something danceable. Read on for a cozy reading soundtrack, character study, or yet another way to emulate your favorite literary hero. This week: if only to sustain your Easter-fueled candy buzz, Roald Dahl’s magnificent uber-brat, Veruca Salt. … Read More

Pop Culture

Stephen Colbert Performs an Epic Version of ‘Friday’ on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

By Emily Temple on

When Stephen Colbert donated $26,000 of his BFFSM (best friend for six months) Jimmy Fallon’s money to DonorsChoose.org, Fallon couldn’t come up with the cash. Instead, he pledged that if his fans donated the money by, well, Friday, then Colbert would perform Rebecca Black’s epically awful song on his show. Well, the people were up to the challenge – the total donations came out to over $86,000.

So true to his word, last night Stephen Colbert showed up to the Jimmy Fallon set in a tuxedo and sang a brilliant rendition of ‘Friday,’ backed by The Roots. Even with Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon heavily auto-tuned, Taylor Hicks with a harmonica, the Knicks City Dancers, and what looked like a yeti and a beekeeper there at the end, the whole thing still ended up being a whole lot less ridiculous and a whole lot more awesome than the original. Sure, everyone seemed to have a little trouble with that extra syllable jammed into “Everybody’s looking forward to the weekend, weekend,” but who can blame them? It’s an awkward song. See the video after the jump! … Read More