One of the most valuable players on the Internet over the last year, Tumblr has amazed us in how quickly it’s evolved from a small-staffed, ballsy experiment to a respected, widely used, interactive network of some of the funniest and highest-quality content out there. We’ve found that when we’re looking for some procrastination, inspiration, or just a good laugh, we often wind up on a Tumblr blog. Below the jump, browse through our 15 favorites of 2011, and tell us which others you think we should check out before the year is up. Read More »
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.
Contrary to what some of the more curmudgeonly folks you might be reading have said, 2011 was actually a very good year for film, in which countless filmmakers either ignored the industry’s distrust of originality entirely, or found new and interesting ways to smuggle bits of revelation and surprise even into formulaic franchise pictures. You’ll see a lot of “best of the year” lists floating around that run down many of the same easy picks for the year’s best films, but since each film is an accumulation of small parts — scenes, lines, pauses, etc. — we thought it would be fun to pick out some of the little, specific moments that stayed in our movie-going memories over the course of 2011. Ours are after the jump; we hope to see yours in the comments. Read More »
With David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo hitting theaters today and Spielberg’s Hergé-inspired The Adventures of Tintin arriving at the movies tomorrow, we have book adaptations on the brain. It’s no secret that we’re avid readers here, but we can also appreciate great cinema inspired by books and other printed sources. You’ll often hear people discussing why a page to screen translation doesn’t work. That’s understandable since Hollywood often appears to be out of original ideas, turning to the shelves in order to make a fast buck. When it is successful, however, most lit fiends are thankful for filmmakers that show reverence to the source material, but made smart sacrifices that make sense for a visual narrative. We looked back at several of the year’s book to movie adaptations and ranked them in order from best to worse. Let us know your picks below. Read More »
For those of you have been anxiously awaiting its arrival on Funny or Die since last week’s preview, it’s finally here: a very special Drunk History Christmas, which features appearances by Ryan Gosling, Eva Mendes, and Jim Carrey, who does a surprisingly convincing Santa Claus (especially if you’re old enough to remember this). Considering that we had to memorize “The Night Before Christmas” in its entirety back in elementary school, we can totally empathize with comedian Allan McLeod’s valiant struggle with certain lines — especially when it comes to the nearly impossible task of naming all of the reindeer. If you prefer your classic poems delivered with more than a hint of slurring, and the creative addition of a few swear words, click through to get in the holiday spirit now. Read More »
1. Paul McCartney has announced that he will release a new album in February that will feature guest appearances by Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton and a mix of covers of “songs he was inspired by during his childhood,” as well as two original compositions. [via NME]
2. In case you’re curious, here are the results of a yearly demographic survey of Broadway audiences. The stat that we find the most interesting: The average age of the Broadway theatergoer was 44 years. [via Pop Culture Brain]
3. Regardless of what yesterday’s Twitter rumors might have led you to believe, Bon Jovi was not found dead from cardiac arrest in a New Jersey hotel. He’s actually alive, and making sort of funny signs about it. [via The Daily What]
4. If you could use some help waking up this morning, you can now listen to “Stupid Hoe,” the second single off of Nicki Minaj’s forthcoming Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded album, here.
5. Ryan Gosling has joined the growing list of celebrities, which also includes Zooey Deschanel and Alicia Silverstone, who have publicly asked McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner to step in and prevent his company from using battery hens to source its eggs and other animal products. [via Jezebel]
For all the remakes and reboots and 3-D blockbusters, 2011 was a great year for film actors, with a wealth of terrific performances for us to choose from. What’s more, in sharp contrast to most years in recent memory, there was a bumper crop of terrific roles for great actresses — a trend that we’d like to see stick around for a while. After the jump, we’ll tell you about some of the best performances we saw this year, and why we’re still talking about them. Read More »
Where do you like to string your tinsel and LED lights? On your house? On your tree? On your body? This time of year, holiday parties and city streets are overwhelmed with costumes parodying Christmas’s jolliest bearer of gifts. Inspired by Katy Perry’s opening monologue ensemble from the latest installment of SNL, we’ve decided to take a look at an earthlier, rarer costume alternative — the Christmas tree. It’s pretty, it’s bright, it smells good. What’s not to love? Dangle a few ornaments from your ears, coat yourself in lights, and stick a star on your forehead — you’ll light up any office party with an accessible power outlet. The following celebrities know what’s up; take note from some intentional and accidental Christmas tree costumes after the jump. Read More »
Every Wednesday in December, Flavorwire will take a look back at the year in film — the stories, the performances, the movies that we were talking about in 2011. For this week, let’s revisit some of the year’s movie controversies, shall we?
We film folk can get worked up pretty easily, so while we found plenty of things to get all a-tizzy about in 2011, the assembled list of 2011′s film controversies doesn’t exactly read like end-of-the-world, stop-the-presses stuff. But these things are important to us! We’re easily excitable! Thus, ratings and posters and Oscars and Darth Vader’s scream were well worth talking about — then, and now. Join us after the jump to relive some of the year’s very big deals. Read More »
Artists Tom Haugomat and Bruno Mangyoku have created a minimalist video tribute to Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive. Set to the breathy track the director used in his first film, Bronson — Glass Candy’s “Digital Versicolour” — the duo have included all of the Ryan Gosling movie’s recognizable images in their animation: the toothpick, the watch, the jacket, and of course, the sullen violence. It’s only a minute long, and really — what other endorsement do you need here? Click on for more. Read More »
