December is nearly over, which means that pretty much every music publication has filed its obligatory end-of-year list and gone off to gorge itself on turkey and mulled wine. Looking over said lists, it’s interesting to note how they’ve become an exercise in critical homogeneity — you see the same names cropping up over and over again on list after list, and the days of gloriously off-the-wall choices like NME dubbing the long-forgotten Sugar’s Copper Blue as the best album of 1992 are long behind us. Still, having said that, pretty much every publication manages to include at least a couple of names that no-one else does, and it’s these idiosyncratic choices — both worthy and/or laughable — that tend to reveal the most about the publication in question. If you’re wondering which one might be right for you, then look no further — after the jump, we dissect 10 leading outlets’ top 10 lists, and consider what their choices say about them (and us).

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1. Two films that focus on father and son relationships — Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life and Mike Mills’ Beginners — shared the award for Best Feature at last night’s Gotham Independent Film Awards. View the full list of winners here.

2. Tom Hanks is set to produce (and possibly play the lead in) a new film based on Erik Larson’s nonfiction bestseller In the Garden of Beasts. The book tells the story of US ambassador William Dodd’s experiences in Berlin at the beginning of Hitler’s rise to power. [via Vulture]

3. Alan Cumming will star in a one-man version of Macbeth that makes its US debut at the 2012 Lincoln Center Festival this summer; the project began with the idea “to swap the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, because there are so many things about gender, I thought it would be a really exciting idea to flip that.” [via ArtsBeat]

4. “It kind of remains to be seen at this point what happens to the future. I think they are certainly the last shows for a while and I guess I’d just leave it at that.” — Lee Ranaldo talks to Rolling Stone about what’s next for Sonic Youth

5. Sad but true: According to TMZ, hordes of Twihards have been faking engagements in order to try on the $799 replica of Bella’s wedding dress from Breaking Dawn that is being sold in Alfred Angelo bridal boutiques. [via Videogum]

Bonus Buzz: Just A Cat Sitting On The Stairs

Oh boy, Rolling Stone. We know you guys are out of touch, and we sure do try to cut you some slack for that. But when you make a list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, and only two of those people are women? (Bonnie Raitt at #89 and Joni Mitchell at #75.) How are we supposed to respond? In all fairness, the blame doesn’t fall solely on the magazine’s writers: Although a few of them voted on the list, the jury was made up mostly of actual famous guitarists — Keith Richards, Carlos Santana, Thurston Moore, J Mascis. The panel itself only included four women (Melissa Etheridge, Marnie Stern, Nancy Wilson, and Susan Tedeschi), which might partially explain why the results were so skewed.

Of course, the list is already being nitpicked. At Stereogum, they’ve suggested a few oversights, but they’re all dudes, too. So, let’s play this game for a minute, shall we? Aside from the ladies on the voting panel, all of whom would have made good picks for the list, which other women should have been considered? How about Joan Jett, Tanya Donelly, Carrie Brownstein, Lita Ford, Ani DiFranco, Poison Ivy, Kaki King, Dolly Parton, Etta Baker, Donita Sparks, Wanda Jackson, PJ Harvey… And that’s just off the top of our head! Add your picks in the comments, and if you’re still depressed, check out the list Marnie Stern made for us last year of her favorite female guitarists.

In celebration of their 154th anniversary, our friends at The Atlantic shared a photo of their first cover, from November 1857. The difference between that image and the very different design the magazine is rocking these days sparked our curiosity about what some of today’s best-loved and most widely read publications looked like in their infancy. After the jump, we’ve rounded up debut covers of everything from The New Yorker to Vogue to Spin. We have to admit, some of them really surprised us: Who knew People started off so classy? Or that Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz’s baby was TV Guide‘s first cover model? Journey with us through media and design history after the jump.

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Tower Heist, perhaps the most unimaginatively titled movie of the year (and that’s no mean feat, following Bad Teacher and Horrible Bosses), is out this Friday, and whatever interest it might have rustled up with its stellar cast of character actors (including Alan Alda, Matthew Broderick, Casey Affleck, Téa Leoni, Judd Hirsch, and Gabby Sidibe) and impressive screenwriters (Ocean’s 11’s Ted Griffin and Catch Me if You Can’s Jeff Nathanson) are pretty much cancelled out by two participants: director Brett Ratner, who has managed to kill every potential franchise he’s touched (with the unfortunate exception of his own Rush Hour movies), and co-star Eddie Murphy.

The fact that Murphy is playing an ex-con (like 48 HRS., remember? Back when he was funny?) in a movie not aimed at four-year-olds, and is actually bothering to do the slightest bit of publicity (in the form of a Rolling Stone interview — more on that later) seems to have folks feverishly talking “comeback” or “return to form” or whatever. This notion requires two giant leaps: 1) ignoring the Tower Heist trailer, which shows Murphy doing the same tired tough-guy schtick and exaggerated “street” patter as the execrable I Spy, and 2) overlooking the fact that he’s done exactly two good movies since 1999 (Bowfinger and Dreamgirls). We’re over Eddie Murphy, and after the jump, we’ll tell you why.

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Say what you want about fancy equipment or an expensive studio setting — a lot of what makes a photograph memorable is all about having an interesting subject to work with and being at the right place at the right time. Case in point, Baron Wolman, who was Rolling Stone‘s first chief photographer back in the late ’60s, during the magazine’s first three years. Now, over 200 of the iconic images that he captured during this incredibly important period of music history are being released in a new coffee-table book.

“I enjoyed shooting every musician I ever photographed, each in a different way but each with respect for him or her, with great joy in the moment,” he explains. “When I was shooting a concert I didn’t ‘hear’ the music, I ‘saw’ the music. Through the lens I was looking for single visual moments which would reflect the essence of the performance in the pages of Rolling Stone.” Click through to preview some of our favorite photos in the iconic collection, from a pic of Ike and Tina sharing a San Francisco stage back in 1967 to Pete Townshend grinning at the piano in 1968 London.

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Rolling Stone, bless them, republished their list of “The 100 Greatest Albums of the 1980s” on their website this week. The feature – originally published in 1989 – makes for strange and occasionally bewildering reading. For a start, it’s topped by The Clash’s London Calling, which is undeniably a masterwork but also was undeniably released in 1979 (and no, we’re not buying the January 1980 US release date as an excuse here). Now, we know better than anyone that lists are always subjective, and whatever you include people are going to complain (hey, it’s actually nice to be complaining about someone else’s lists for once). And admittedly, we’re evaluating this list with the benefit of 20 years of hindsight. But even so, there are some glaring omissions from RS’s selection – here are 10 records that really should have featured somewhere near the top, but didn’t feature at all.

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Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk, recently took Rolling Stone writer Doree Shafrir on a tour of his computer and showed her how he puts together one of his albums — a method that he explains applies to his live shows as well. “It’s pretty thought out,” Gillis tells her. “But everything is executed on the fly. It’s like playing a song: You wrote the song, you rehearsed it, but you’re doing it live. There might be a little thing you do different night to night, but you are playing it pretty much the same way you always play it. Live, there’s things I give myself freedom on. If people are there and excited, then I can cut things, and just have melodies playing for a bit. And that changes from night to night.” Click through to watch the man in action.

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Culture is an ever-evolving beast, it’s true. We may not be completely sure where it’s going, but we do know where it’s been, and how better to track our progress than by looking at the changes in the most popular (and enduring) lifestyle and culture magazines in American culture? We’ve already taken a look at redesigned book covers, but magazines are a more immediate reflection of our selves – like advertisements, they’re a reflection of a cultural ideal. Plus, well, they’re fun to look at. Click through to see the vintage covers and contemporary redesigns of your favorite American rags, and let us know if you think we’re changing for the better or worse.

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Editor’s note: Each Friday, our internet-savvy friends over at BuzzFeed curate a post for us that’s filled with links to some of the most talked-about items on the web that week. Enjoy!

* After beating Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber for Album of the Year at the Grammys, Arcade Fire was met with a resounding “Who?”

* When Esperanza Spalding won the Grammy for Best New Artist, Beliebers collectively lost their minds on Twitter.

* It sounded like Justin Bieber implied that rape is all a part of God’s plan when his words were twisted in a recent interview with Rolling Stone.

* Malcolm In The Middle star Frankie Muniz resurfaced recently after punching his girlfriend in the face and holding a gun to his head.

* Wu-Tang’s Ghostface Killah regaled his Twitter followers with words of wisdom on how to treat a lady.

* The Midwest became the new Middle East when the spirit of protest has gripped Wisconsin. We have the 45 best signs spotted so far.

* Natlie Portman’s talent for blubbering was revealed in this supercut: Natalie Portman Cries A Lot.

* Internet star and gamer vixen Felicia Day turned heads as a sexy elf in screenshots for the upcoming Dragon Age: Redemption.

* And finally, the Internet pooled their money to buy Detroit a Robocop statue.