After watching this video that Ohio designer Adam Ladd created with his five-year-old daughter, you’ll be smiling from ear to ear. Ladd asked her to share her thoughts about popular logos belonging to some of the world’s biggest corporations. She candidly shares her feelings about each image — in only a way that a five-year-old can — and the commentary is adorable, insightful, and allows you to look at age-old brands in a refreshing way. She instantly recognizes the Disney, Apple, and McDonald’s logos, which isn’t too surprising. Other symbols are simplified to a funny degree. Starbucks simply becomes the “coffee logo,” and anything that looks like it could be a cheetah is a cheetah (Greyhound, Puma, etc.). Check out her commentary past the break.

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1. The sale of Borders was officially approved yesterday, and as Gizmodo says, reading the 40-year-old book retailer’s goodbye email “is like watching Old Yeller in slow motion.”

2. Some exciting news for music lovers who hate to travel: YouTube announced today that it’s planning to live stream both Lollapalooza (August 5-7) and Austin City Limits (September 16-18). [via Billboard]

3. Should we take it as a bad sign that Warner Bros. has moved the release date of Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman reboot — which stars Henry Cavill as the famed superhero and Amy Adams as Lois Lane — from December 2012 to June 2013? [via LAT]

4. Glee star Darren Criss is in talks to replace Daniel Radcliffe as the lead in Broadway’s How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying beginning in January. Considering how well Criss spoofed Harry in A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel, this sounds like a smart casting decision to us. [via Deadline]

5. Today is Bon Iver Day! — at least if you live in Milwaukee. Celebrate accordingly. [via Vulture]

Bonus link: Starbucks Rejection Cup

If you’re anything like us, then you’ve been harboring a healthy obsession with what might be called The Seattle Cannon for years, and you probably didn’t even realize it. Not only is Seattle one of the most literate cities in the US, it’s also home to a group of writers who have advanced America’s literary tradition, and considerably. Because the life of American letters is so often the subject of Flavorpill coverage, we are excited to announce our launch in Seattle. Be sure to tell all your friends from Washington to sign up for Flavorpill!

Starbucks is sponsoring our Seattle launch, and by way of a thank you (and in honor of their recent 40th anniversary), we’re running a retrospective of the city’s most noteworthy cultural contributions over the past four decades. Check out our final spotlight on Mary McCarthy, Jon Krakauer, and Tom Robbins after the jump.

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You’ve probably read by now that Flavorpill is launching in Seattle, and we can’t think of a more apropos cultural environment for our brand of arts and event coverage. We’ve already reported on the contributions to film and music that Seattle and its citizens have made over the course of the four decades that Starbucks has been in town. Today our focus is on the Seattle Art Museum, an institution that is offering up a new model for how a museum can contribute to a city’s culture at large.

Starbucks is sponsoring our Seattle launch, and by way of a thank you (and in honor of their recent 40th anniversary), we’re running a retrospective of the city’s most noteworthy cultural contributions over the past four decades. Click through to check out our spotlight on the Seattle Art Museum (SAM).

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At long last, Flavorpill Seattle is launching, and we’re excited to be descending on the Northwestern capital of the good kind of weirdness. As the hometown of more than a few objects of Flavorpill affection (Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, Mark Morris, and Rainn Wilson, to name a few), Seattle has spent the last forty years quietly evolving into a hotspot for film, music, literature, and museum culture.

Starbucks is sponsoring our Seattle launch, and by way of a thank you (and in honor of their recent 40th anniversary), we’re running a retrospective of the city’s most noteworthy cultural contributions over the past four decades. Check out our spotlight on the Seattle International Film Festival after the jump.

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You know who helped Starbucks turn 40? You did. Now Starbucks is celebrating Flavorpill subscribers. Majorly.

To commemorate the revolution in American coffeehouse culture that we all participated in, Starbucks and Flavorpill have designed a visual tribute to you guys — the Starbucks Signature Gallery — and we want YOU to send us your most creative pictures.

Vitals: take a picture of yourself with your Starbucks Signature Drink, send it to starbucks@flavorpill.com, and make sure to include the drink’s name in the subject line. If your photo is selected as one of the winning submissions, you’ll take home some serious prizes.

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1. Both the album art and tracklisting for Lady Gaga’s Born This Way album have surfaced online. Although her publicist hasn’t confirmed anything yet, the images suggest that there are 14 songs, with the title track as the album’s opening song. [via NME]

2. Zach Galifianakis has signed a first-look deal with HBO. His first project for the network will be a pilot starring comedian Brody Stevens, who had a small role in The Hangover. According to the Hollywood Reporter, “Stevens, a former amateur baseball player, will play himself in a mockumentary-style comedy with Galifianakis also appearing.”

3. Justin Vernon says that the next Bon Iver album should be ready sometime in June. “I brought in a lot of people to change my voice — not my singing voice, but my role as the author of this band, this project. I built the record myself, but I allowed those people to come in and change the scene.” [via Sound of the City]

4. Well this isn’t surprising: Jason Schwartzman has joined the all-star cast of Wes Anderson’s next film, Moonrise Kingdom, which tells the story of two young lovers who runaway from their New England town. Among the actors already signed on to the project: Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton.

5. Marvel Comics is joining Starbucks’ wi-fi network, which means customers will get to browse free comics while they drink their coffee. The Economist, Mediabistro.com, and ESPN are also part of the deal. [via Pop Candy]

Bonus link: Dam surfing in Australia

It has been a busy few weeks for Starbucks. First, they unveiled a new, more mermaid-centric logo. Now they’ve announced that they’re adding their biggest drink size yet — the 31 oz. “Trenta” — to the cold beverage menu, beginning as early as this week in Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Hawaii and Arizona. According to a handy graphic put together by the National Post, we now know that that’s a little more than the average person’s stomach capacity. That said, it’s still shy of a Big Gulp (32 oz.) and nowhere near touching a Super Big Gulp (44 oz.). Also, is it just or us, or does the Grande now look kind of small?

Admittedly it’s no Gap overhaul, but there are a few subtle changes; namely, the words “Starbucks Coffee,” which surrounded the brand’s iconic two-tailed siren are gone and her image — in green, rather than brown — takes up the full circle. “What is really important here is an evolutionary refinement of the logo, which is a mirror image of the strategy,” said Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks. “This is not just, let’s wake up one day and change our logo.” Look for the new logo in stores this March, and let us know in the comments below: Does it make you crave more than just plain old coffee? [via The Daily What]

Ever wonder what your Starbucks barista is thinking as you step up the counter to pick your caffeinated poison? Well, while we imagine they aren’t all mentally categorizing you by age, occupation, gender, and race, at least one of them certainly is. In a hand-drawn chart Consumerist has picked up, one barista breaks her customers down into 15 handy stereotypes, ranging from Asians (black iced coffee) to mechanics (mocha Frappucino, apparently) to Indians (chai). Find yourself of the chart after the jump and let us know whether you’re entertained, bewildered, or offended.

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