1. The nominees for the 54th Annual Grammy Awards have been announced, and Kanye West leads the pack with seven nods; hot on his heels are Adele, Bruno Mars, and the Foo Fighters, who each scored six nominations. View the full list of nominees here.

2. Nicholas Cage’s rare copy of “Action Comics” No. 1 — which was stolen from his house in 2000, and later recovered — has been sold at auction for a record-setting $2.1 million. Knowing Cage, he’s sure to spend the money wisely, perhaps on a second pyramid tomb or another castle. [via MTV]

3. Here is your first look at Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, snapped while the actor was having some lunch while on location in Richmond, Virginia. Looks like Steven Spielberg made a good choice. There’s a rather striking resemblance, wouldn’t you say?

4. A Colombian court has ruled against Miguel Reyes Palencia, a man who claimed that Gabriel García Márquez used his life story as the inspiration for the main character in Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and as a result, wanted 50% of the royalties and a co-author credit. [via Guardian]

5. Film critic Roger Ebert says that the recently-revived version of his show At the Movies will be going on an indefinite hiatus in the new year due to financial issues. Funding the project through Kickstarter is one option being considered, but in the meantime Ebert asks, “Please have faith in us as we sort through the possibilities.” [via ArtsBeat]

Bonus Buzz: Modern-Day Garbage Pail Kids

You’ve probably noticed by now that we’re big fans of Roger Ebert here at Flavorpill, and as we trust his film reviews so wholeheartedly, it only makes sense that we’d also follow his advice when it comes to where to sit when watching a movie. “Growing up, I always liked to sit somewhere in the middle,” Ebert writes on his blog. “After I got the Sun-Times job I idly asked my optometrist where one should sit. ‘Twice as far back as the screen is wide,’ he ruled. To that advice I made a refinement: I prefer an aisle seat on the outboard side of the aisle. Outboard? Imagine a theater with two side aisles. I want the side of the aisle at a greater distance from the screen, so that I can look diagonally across the aisle, and not have to peer over a taller person in front of me. This is especially useful if the movie has subtitles and somebody’s head might obscure them.”

Ebert then goes on to explain why he now sits in the back row when taking in a movie at the Lake Street Screening Room. It all started when Gene Siskel decided to move from the center aisle to the back row in order to avoid “being spied on” by publicists; Ebert became acutely aware of his critical cohort sitting behind him, watching his reactions. “So I moved to the back row to outwit the son of a bitch,” he writes. “I picked the end of the row nearest the door, so I could sneak out to the men’s room without calling undue attention to myself. Most people have bladders the size of oil drums, but I usually have to pee at least once during a movie. A few of my colleagues share this need, and I am sympathetic while watching them bend over and make a Groucho Marx run in front of the screen in the futile hope that no one will notice them.”

Film critic extraordinaire Roger Ebert has had to overcome his share of hurdles over the past several years. After a battle with thyroid cancer left the savvy writer without a voice, he handed over the reins of his iconic television series, At The Movies, to hosts Christy Lemire and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky. Famous for its “thumbs up/thumbs down” rating system, the show is modeled after Ebert’s TV late 70′s partnership with late film critic Gene Siskel. Now, the landmark series is in danger of being axed, according to Rog’s blog. “Unless we find an angel, our television program will go off the air at the end of its current season,” he wrote in his online journal at the Chicago Sun-Times. “There. I’ve said it. Usually in television, people use evasive language. Not me. We’ll be gone. I want to be honest about why this is. We can’t afford to finance it any longer.”

The public television program — a nationally syndicated success, according to the writer (with the numbers to prove it) — is being funded in large part by Ebert and his wife Chaz, who used a $25,000 grant from the Kanbar Charitable Trust to get the show on the air. If someone doesn’t step up to the plate with a bag of dough, At The Movies has no hope of returning to the small screen after December — a sad fate for a culturally important program that provides honest and insightful film criticism. As Ebert explains, “Movie coverage on TV is otherwise so intensely driven by marketing that some programs actually cover the marketing itself.” Yuck. Do you think it’s time for the film critic to turn to Kickstarter for some help? Should At The Movies quit the TV circuit and move to the web?

We’ve made no secret of the fact that we’re giant Roger Ebert fans here at Flavorwire, so we certainly weren’t going to miss his rare trip from his home turf to ours, for Tuesday night’s installment of The New York Times’ ongoing lecture/interview series, “Times Talks” — “or, in my case, Times Types,” as Ebert mused, via his computerized voice “Alex.” The program allowed the critic to answer A.O. Scott’’s questions via his laptop, and as “Alex” said his words, Ebert would frequently act out his answers, accompanying the robot-voiced words with his own gestures, nods, shrugs, and mugs (frequently calling to mind the great silent clown Harpo Marx — “the most articulate” of the Marx Brothers, according to Mr. Ebert).

Because his responses were literally written, the conversation was more quotable than most. After the jump, we’ve assembled our ten favorite Ebert-isms of the night.

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Roger Ebert is a very, very good storyteller. That shouldn’t come as a surprise; he has spent the past 40-plus years observing great storytellers (and many not-so-great ones). His new memoir, Life Itself, is filled with terrific tales: getting lost on a drive with Robert Mitchum, going to Stockholm for a set visit with Ingmar Bergman, taking a trip to an all-night grocery with Russ Meyer and Sid Vicious, spending an afternoon in New Jersey with Gene Siskel and David Letterman, drinking and chatting the night away with Pauline Kael and a young Martin Scorsese. Some of them may be familiar to longtime readers, but that’s okay; a great story is meant to be retold, and we smile in appreciation at an anecdote we may recall from one of his earlier books, or his interviews, or his blog.

That blog was, in many ways, the beginning of this book. Of writing the memoir, Ebert explains, “I thought it was about time. The experience of serious illness recast my years up until then in a new light for me. My thoughts turned to the past, and as I started to write a blog I found myself falling into an autobiographical mode. I was never shy about speaking, and now, forced to be mute, I found the things I had to say were forcing themselves to the surface in my writing. I didn’t ‘need’ to write my memoirs, but I found that—I was.”

Read More »

Today at Flavorpill, we discovered what would totally be our new favorite flavor of ice cream if it really existed. We were as entranced as ever by the latest crazy mix from Pogo. We wondered if these Next Media Animation clips will ever get old after watching their latest, a summary of the Roger Ebert/Bam Margera Twitter drama. We downloaded the iPad app for Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, which includes such literary goodies as the original 1953 internal memorandum on the novel from editor Malcolm Cowley. We checked out a new piece from Banksy, which is a response to the British Transport Police’s anti-graffiti campaign “Operation Misfit.” We tried to imagine spending a month living in a museum in exchange for $10K. We wanted to grow our own adorable matchbox garden. We wondered if today’s cinematic landscape is really as bleak as it was back in the late ’80s after looking at this hand-drawn timeline of the AFI 100. And finally, we read Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas’s account of his life as an undocumented immigrant. We hope that his story has a happy ending.

1. George Clooney’s The Ides of March, an adaptation of Beau Williams’s play Farragut North, which was inspired by events in Howard Dean’s 2004 Presidential primary campaign, will open the Venice Film Festival on August 31st. The film’s all-star cast features Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, and Evan Rachel Wood. [via Slashfilm]

2. Jon Stewart explained to his Daily Show viewers last night that producers at Fox edited his interview with Chris Wallace to make him come across as emotional and erratic. “I suggest you look at the unedited version online where my emotional states don’t seem to change so arbitrarily,” he says. “The arguments are a little clearer and a little less like a scene from woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown.” [via The Daily Beast]

3. Jackass’s Bam Margera has responded to Roger Ebert’s controversial tweets about his co-star Ryan Dunn’s death in a car accident yesterday, writing, “I just lost my best friend, I have been crying hysterical for a full day and piece of sh*t roger ebert has the gall to put in his 2 cents … About a jackass drunk driving and his is one, f*ck you! Millions of people are crying right now, shut your fat f*cking mouth!” [via Vulture]

4. We’re not sure how we feel about this: The final season of Weeds will jump three years into the future, with Nancy Botwin entering into the witness protection program in New York City. Watch a behind-the-scenes preview clip here.

5. NPR is streaming the Buddy Holly tribute album, which features contributions from Paul McCartney, Lou Reed, The Black Keys, Julian Casablancas, Cee Lo Green, and Florence and the Machine, among others. [via Pop Candy]

Bonus link: Check out some “top quality giant robot porn.”

1. Feminist punk legend Poly Styrene from X-Ray Spex (aka Marianne Elliot Said) has died after a battle with breast cancer. She was only 53. [via NME]

2. Flavorpill favorite Sam Lipsyte has a new short story in this week’s New Yorker. Read it in full here.

3. In other New Yorker-related news, after entering for years, Roger Ebert has finally won the magazine’s weekly cartoon caption contest. Check out his winning entry here.

4. Do not believe the vicious rumor that the last company still making typewriters recently shut down its plant in Mumbai. There are still plenty of other typewriter manufacturers in the world, and that plant actually shuttered way back in 2009. [via Gawker]

5. Interesting news: Marisa Tomei may be the female lead in Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming pilot for HBO, and Olivia Munn is in talks to join the project as well. [via Deadline]

Bonus link: New Yorkers John Belitsky And Dan Wuebben Take Taxi to Los Angeles (Really)

Today at Flavorpill, we imagined what it would be like to walk a mile in these wacky Lego stilettos. We read Roger Ebert’s predictions for the future of film — circa 1987 — and wondered if the man might be psychic. We watched a video of Amanda Palmer’s tweet medley at last night’s Shorty Awards. We tried to determine whether or not this cover letter was real. We decided that the next time we get mad at a roommate, they’re going to be on the receiving end of this Dexter-inspired prank. We virtually visited six of the creepiest places on earth. We got thirsty while reading The Hairpin’s roundup of simple drinks for dumb people. We learned some important things about internet safety. And finally, we discovered how much the emancipation of women in late-nineteenth-century America had to do with bicycles, thanks to this fascinating new book from National Geographic.

1. Despite some truly horrible reviews from critics (particularly Roger Ebert), the alien invasion thriller Battle: Los Angeles conquered the weekend box office, taking in $36 million for a first place finish. Rounding out the top three were Rango ($23 million) and Red Riding Hood ($14.1 million). [via AV Club]

2. Variety is reporting that Academy Award-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) is close to locking down the leading role of Katniss in the upcoming film adaptation of The Hunger Games. Discuss. [via ComingSoon]

3. A Million Little Pieces author James Frey is teaming up with art-gallery owner Larry Gagosian to release his new book, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, a kind of racy story about the second coming of Christ which takes place in the Bronx projects. [via Vulture]

4. Someone is leaving hipster traps — baited with Pabst Blue Ribbon, American Spirits, a bike chain and neon-pink Wayfarers — in locations around New York City. [via The Daily What]

5. The Strokes premiered five of the 10 songs from their upcoming album Angles (which is due out on March 22nd) live in Las Vegas on Saturday night; the band’s next stop is SXSW. [via NME]

Bonus link: Watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Recut As an Indie Coming-of-Age Movie