F

Flavorwire

Ron Swanson

Television

Watch Nick Offerman Teach You to Make a Ron Swanson Bobblehead

By Judy Berman on

It isn’t just Ron Swanson who likes to make things out of wood — Nick Offerman, the man who plays him on TV, is also rather handy with power tools. He even has his own store, where you can buy everything from “male boxes” to handmade canoes.  A new video from NBC takes us inside the Parks and Recreation star’s wood shop, where he teaches us to make a bobblehead doll of his TV alter ego. (Well, sort of.) If you’ve ever wanted to see Offerman use a lathe or, for that matter, work in his underwear, you’ll want to take a look at the clip below. Oh, and pervs? “Nasolabial folds” are a part of your face. … Read More

Gift Guide

Triple Word Win: Gifts for Scrabble Lovers

By Alison Nastasi on

Browse your dictionaries and sharpen your pencils — tomorrow is National Scrabble Day! One out of three American families owns Hasbro’s popular word game, which is sold in nearly every country in the world. It’s hard to believe that tiny, wooden, innocuous letters can inspire such a fiercely competitive spirit in people — but the game is also popular with families and friends just looking to spend some quality time, who don’t mind using their brains in the process. So, before you busy yourself hosting a Scrabble game tomorrow, or wondering if the kids at the 2012 National School Scrabble Championships are way smarter than you (they probably are), head past the break to indulge your inner board game geek. We’re celebrating National Scrabble Day by sharing a few game-centric treats — ranging from food to fashion — that deserve your dollars and cents. Happy Scrabbling! … Read More

Television

10 Great Don Draper Wannabes on TV

By Michelle Rafferty on

Since these Mad Men trailers are giving us nothing to discuss (We get it! You’re back! Now let’s see some new footage, please!), we’ve decided to play a different game. The last season premiere opened with the question: “Who is Don Draper?” Now, what if we were to take this question literally (who is a Don Draper?) and apply it to our favorite TV shows? We’re looking for men who wouldn’t think of leaving the house in pajamas (ahem Max Blum, you lovable man-child), men who consider emotion and failure to be the greatest of character flaws and stood as beacons of hope during the “great mancession” (now officially over). We’re looking for men like Dick Whitman who bury their crises and secrets far beneath the fabric of their perfectly tailored suits and must carry the dead albatross of great sexual prowess around their necks every day. Click through to see who we came up with and, as always, we invite you to make additions in the comments, because what else do you have to do until Sunday night? … Read More

Film

Exclusive: Nick Offerman on His New Films, Nudity, and Being Ron Swanson

By Jason Bailey on

AUSTIN, TX: Nick Offerman’s giggle is a joy to behold. His high-pitched snicker has occasionally surfaced on his TV show, Parks and Recreation, where its enthusiasm and timbre sharply contrasts the no-nonsense nature of his already iconic character, libertarian parks department director Ron Swanson. But it’s always popping up in interviews, and it even comes out a couple of times in Somebody Up There Likes Me, the tragicomedy premiering here that he co-produced and co-stars in. It’s one of three films the busy actor has at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival; he also has a cameo in 21 Jump Street and a supporting role in Will Ferrell’s Spanish-language comedy Casa de mi Padre. “When it comes to specific roles,” he told me, “I really just try to eschew anything that is remotely Ron Swanson-esque, and I do my best not to have a mustache.” And that’s when he giggled. It’s incredibly charming. … Read More

Television

Drop Everything: Ron Swanson Is on Twitter

By Judy Berman on

By now, it seems like absolutely every celebrity (or at least their publicity team) is on Twitter. But there are still a whole lot of holdouts, and until a few days ago, Nick Offerman was one of them. Thankfully, we can now follow the thoughts of the man who plays the Internet’s favorite… Read More

Comedy

Watch Ron Swanson and Tammy II Sing About Creationism and Dragons

By Judy Berman on

The opportunity to watch Nick Offerman — that is, Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson — get dressed up like Toby Keith and sing a vaguely jingoistic country song is just about all we could ask for on a Friday morning. So the fact that we get all that in a duet with Offerman’s funny (real-life and TV) wife, Megan Mullally, that also happens to be about paleontology, creationism, and dragons? Yeah, we’re pretty much in heaven. If you ever wanted to see Ron Swanson in a pale yellow, or hear Tammy II sing, “Darwin was a douche,” then consider your day made. Thanks, College Humor! … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Celebrated journalist, lifelong contrarian, and staunch atheist Christopher Hitchens has died from complications of esophageal cancer at the age of 62. “I personally want to ‘do’ death in the active and not the passive,” he wrote in his recent memoir Hitch-22, “and to be there to look it in the eye and be doing… Read More

Television

Buy a Mustache Comb Carved by Nick Offerman

By Caroline Stanley on

Parks and Rec’s Ron Swanson has become one of the most beloved TV characters in recent memory, in large part because of his tendency to say things like, “When I’m done eating a Mulligan’s meal, for weeks afterwards there are flecks of meat in my mustache and I refuse to clean it because every now… Read More

Pop Culture

30 Fantastic Pop Culture Pumpkins

By Caroline Stanley on

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! … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. A London coroner has ruled that Amy Winehouse died from drinking too much alcohol — not from withdrawal, as was originally thought — and in fact, she had consumed 4.5 times more than the legal limit for driving in the UK at her time of death. [via The Daily Beast]

2. Community’s… Read More