We recently stumbled over this great blast from the past over at Good Food Stories: a collection of “Eat This” columns from the now-defunct but definitely life-changing Sassy Magazine, in which staffers and celebrities taught readers how to make their favorite dishes. Evan Dando of the Lemonheads shares the ingredients of his special “Morning Noonan Night Sauce,” while a wildly young-looking Sonic Youth suggests putting butter on your tuna tacos, and Spike Jonze and Beastie Boy drummer Mike D. spend five hours making a carrot cake. There are suggestions from non-celebrities too, all worth a look for that trademark Sassy attitude so rare in print publications these days. Click through for a little culinary inspiration from the early ’90s, and head on over to Good Food Stories for bigger images and even more recipes!

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[Editor's note: While your Flavorwire editors take a much-needed holiday break, we're revisiting some of our most popular features of the year. This post was originally published August 10, 2011.] Earlier this summer, a shocking number of our readers flocked to read (and amend) our list of the harshest author-on-author insults in history. But you know who is even more childish, trifling, vindictive, and nasty than your favorite scribes? Your favorite filmmakers. These directors may not have quite the same precision with the written word as those rancorous authors, but when it comes to pettiness, they can’t be beat. After the jump, we’ll run down 30 of our favorite slights, slanders, and cheap shots from filmmakers both classic and contemporary; we’d love to hear yours in the comments.

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Casting a spell of still shots, handcrafted characters, and homemade settings, stop-motion animation has been dazzling viewers since its first appearance in the late 1800s. It requires a grueling process that, when executed perfectly, creates the illusion of seamless movement. And often, the months and even years that filmmakers filter into their stop-motion endeavors prove to be worth the effort, producing jaw-dropping works of meticulous art. Here at Flavorpill, we see a ton of stop-motion shorts. Our ten favorites are after the jump; link us to yours in the comments. Read More »

Darren Aronofsky’s unsettling crystal meth PSAs made the rounds earlier this week. The Black Swan director worked with the Meth Project Foundation to trouble us with visions of intense drug addiction, and boy did it work. Aronofsky isn’t the only gifted filmmaker who has dabbled with short-form film and the telly advertising world, however. Many auteur moviemakers found their start on TV, creating some of the most memorable works that have ever been brought to prime time. Others just enjoy creating little bites of film-esque entertainment as a break from the Hollywood machine. Whatever the reasons, the condensed screen time provides a fascinating snapshot of each director’s overall style. Click past the break for a look at ten directors who made creative commercials for the small screen.
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Director Spike Jonze has collaborated on film projects with everyone from The Beastie Boys to Jay-Z and Kanye West (their video “Otis”), but he’s teaming up with a fashion maven this time — handbag designer Olympia Le-Tan. They’re currently working on a fantastic stop-motion animation, Mourir Aupres de Toi (To Die By Your Side), which uses all the typical low-fi materials Jonze loves — this time felt. The video is set in Paris’ iconic bookstore, Shakespeare and Company, the famous hangout location for literati like James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stein. The Where the Wild Things Are filmmaker admired Le-Tan’s work and asked her to create a Catcher in the Rye embroidery for him, which the style guru agreed to do — but only if Jonze would make a video for her in return. The duo is using pieces of book covers to animate a love story. Check out the film and a previously released behind-the-scenes peek past the break.

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1. Here is the new, Spike Jonze-directed video for Kanye West and Jay-Z‘s “Otis.” The clip has a sort of lo-fi feel, at least for this pair — mostly, we see them hanging out together on an empty lot and stunt driving an amusingly modified luxury car. And yes, that is Aziz Ansari who you see for like a second.

2. One of our favorite Brooklyn music venues, The Bell House, is throwing its annual ’90s-themed party, Saved by the Bell House, this Saturday. But Dustin Diamond (aka Screech) isn’t happy that the club used his image — along with the rest of the Saved by the Bell cast — on a flyer advertising the event. His people wrote the venue a letter asking them to remove Diamond’s likeness but also offered, “If you are interested in having Dustin, please feel free to call.” The party, by the way, is partially a benefit for the ASPCA. See what The Bell House has done with their flyer here. [via Gawker]

3. Jani Lane, the 47-year-old former frontman of Warrant, was found dead in his room at a Comfort Inn outside Los Angeles. Although no cause of death has been released, Lane is known for his history of alcohol abuse. [via Today]

4. That third Bridget Jones movie is totally happening. Although nothing is confirmed yet, we assume this means Renee Zellwegger is back on board to play the title role, and early whispers suggest that Colin Firth will also return. Our big question: Will the rumors that Bridesmaids director Paul Feig will helm the film turn out to be true? [via EW]

5. Coldplay have announced that their fifth album will be called Mylo Xyloto and will be released October 24th. As with their previous full-length, Viva la Vida, Brian Eno is listed as a collaborator. We don’t expect that will save the band from its terminally square status. You can check out the Mylo Xyloto cover art at NME.

Bonus Buzz: 12 Celebrities Who Have Killed People

1. The Spike Jonze-directed video for Jay-Z and Kanye West‘s “Otis” is such a big deal that it will premiere tonight at 8:56pm on MTV, MTV2, mtvU, MTV.com, and BET. [via MTV]

2. Roseanne Barr is planning to followup her delightful new Lifetime reality show with a sitcom called Downwardly Mobile that’s about “a tight-knit blue-collar family struggling to make ends meet.” While we absolutely adore Roseanne, we’re not sure this premise is going to work after we’ve seen her tooling around her 40-acre macadamia nut farm in Hawaii in a golf cart. [via Vulture]

3. Here is a peek at Misonni’s new home collection for Target, which arrives in stores in September. We want it all, especially the bicycle.

4. We find it hard to believe that Jennifer Grey is as excited about the Dirty Dancing remake as she says she is, but maybe she thinks that if she plays it nice, Kenny Ortega will throw her a cameo.

5. The lovely Aretha Franklin will be honored with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz’s Founder’s Award at the organization’s 25th anniversary in Washington DC next month; performances by past winners and jazz greats like Herbie Hancock and Dianne Reeves are already planned for the gala concert, but organizers are hoping that Aretha will do a number too. [via Arts Beat]

Bonus Buzz: 25 Things You Will Probably See At The 2011 Gathering Of The Juggalos

1. Spike Jonze has reportedly teamed up with Kanye West and Jay-Z to direct the music video for “Otis,” the first official track to be released off of their forthcoming joint LP Watch the Throne. While there aren’t many details to be had, you can check out a photo from the shoot in Los Angeles here.

2. Word is that former Six Feet Under star Lauren Ambrose (and not Glee’s Lea Michele as was previously rumored), is the actress that the producers of the upcoming Broadway revival of Funny Girl want for their leading lady. [via E!]

3. Kings of Leon have canceled the remaining 26 dates on their current US tour in light of that incident last week in Dallas where lead singer Caleb Followill left the stage after telling the crowd that he was going to go vomit, drink a beer, and then come back out and play some more. (He never did.) According to the band’s publicist, he was “suffering from vocal issues and exhaustion.” They will return to the road in late September for a show in Vancouver. [via ArtsBeat]

4. In case you’re curious, here are a few teasers from an upcoming Vanity Fair feature in which J. Lo explains why she split from Marc Anthony.

5. When Breaking Bad comes back for its final season next year, it might not be on AMC thanks to some drama between the network and Sony Television over the episode count. As long as this ends up with us getting to see more of Walter White, we’ll be happy to watch it anywhere. [via Vulture]

Bonus Buzz: Matt Damon Defends Teachers, Calls Out Cameraman

Today at Flavorpill, we were thankful to Buzzfeed for rounding up some of the best Piegate-related tweets and Mental Floss for compiling this list of 10 other people who have been pied in the past. We were sad to hear that The Silent Barn, one of Flavorpill’s favorite DIY venues, was robbed and vandalized over the weekend. We watched a stop-motion reenactment of Mike Lacher’s McSweeney’s masterpiece “I’m Comic Sans, Asshole.” We wondered how many couples could withstand the stress of documenting their relationship on camera. We discovered our new favorite cereal mascot. We were glad to see that Spike Jonze and the Beastie Boys still play so well together. We felt guilty for misusing “literally” so much, but we literally can’t stop. We read about some foods that it’s probably best to avoid unless you’re looking to have a heart attack. We were fascinated by this narcotics and dangerous drugs identification kit from the ’60s. So pretty! And finally, we were kind of bored by this motion poster for The Hunger Games. We know that the film is still a long way off, but we hope to see some more interesting eye candy — preferably the kind that doesn’t make our computer freeze up — in the near future.

1. The first photos of Brad Pitt on the set of the Marc Forster-directed film adaptation of the zombie thriller World War Z have surfaced. What do you think?

2. The Beastie Boys have reteamed with director Spike Jonze for the music video for “Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win,” their recent collaboration with Santigold. “It is an explicit action adventure spectacular,” they explain on their website. “It features action figures of us and yes, they are ACTION figures, NOT dolls!” Unfortunately, there’s no release date yet. [via NME]

3. “I became reliant on [alcohol] to enjoy stuff … There were a few years there when I was just so enamored with the idea of living some sort of famous person’s lifestyle that really isn’t suited to me.” – Apparently Daniel Radcliffe used to have a problem with whiskey

4. Jay-Z and Kanye West may not have released Watch the Throne over the weekend (as had previously been rumored), but they did reveal official album art from designer Riccardo Tisci. [via Vulture]

5. Competitive eating renegade Takeru Kobayashi (who refuses to sign an exclusive contract with Major League Eating), set a world record yesterday by consuming 69 hot dogs in ten minutes at an unsanctioned event on a Manhattan rooftop. His arch nemesis Joey “Jaws” Chestnut — the winner of the Nathan’s Famous official contest — only managed to wolf down 62 dogs. [via NYDN]

Bonus link: Watch the Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Grand Finale