Today at Flavorpill, we wondered if the world is really ready for an Aqua comeback. We laughed out loud over some of these Masterpiece Theater “missed connections” from David Hart at McSweeney’s — particularly “MY HEART SAYS YES BUT MY STATION SAYS NO.” We checked some emotional baggage. We got a kick out of these comic logos made from food. We were totally shocked that Susan Boyle would even know who Depeche Mode is, let alone cover one of their songs. We wished that this very cool photo-based street art project would travel stateside. We listened to VH1′s 100 greatest songs of the last decade. We were excited to finally see some photos from the set of The Avengers. We looked at some of the best buildings to go up in LA in the last 10 years. We were impressed by the results of FilmDrunk’s “Movie-Themed Food Trucks: Action Movie Edition.” We watched a trailer for the upcoming South Park documentary. And finally, we were fascinated by this cautionary tale of how a bad breakup almost led a girl to accidentally join a cult. (Don’t worry, it ends with a huge tax refund.)
Hype is the most polarizing force in today’s music world. The internet has made it incredibly easy for listeners to streamline their new music exposure and stay on top of emerging acts, but hype encourages erratic attention at best from consumers. These days, the ears of the masses are always hungry for the next big thing, an honor often bestowed on the strength of a single song, by blogs, aggregators, viral videos, and sometimes even commercials, rather than real criticism.
Over the years, hype has encouraged the bandwagon to move in many positive directions, but what about when hype fails? After the jump, we unearth some of the bigger misses of the last ten years. Sorry, guys — we haven’t forgotten.
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1. Lou Reed has directed Susan Boyle’s music video for her cover of his song “Perfect Day” — the same track that he was wrongfully accused of refusing to allow her to perform on America’s Got Talent. [via Vulture]
2. Hugh Jackman was asked to host this year’s Academy Awards, but he said no because he’s too busy preparing the Wolverine sequel. May we suggest Tina Fey instead? [via Deadline]
3. A newly-released Lil Wayne joined Drake on stage in Las Vegas over the weekend for a performance of “Miss Me.” (video) [via P4K]
4. Planters’ animated mascot Mr. Peanut is getting both a new vintage-inspired look (complete with a gray flannel suit) and a new voice courtesy of Robert Downey, Jr. [via NYT]
5. An upcoming Christie’s auction of the art of Playboy includes 80 photographs, more than a dozen contemporary works, and 24 cartoons, most of which have appeared in the publication. [via Yahoo!]
Bonus link: This Is Tom Cruise Jumping Off the Tallest Skyscraper In the World
In the publishing industry’s sprint to the holiday sales home stretch, few books succeed quite as well as the salacious celebrity bio — be it compelling biography or self-indulgent memoir. Whether written by devoted scholars or the icon in question (usually with the guiding hand of a ghostwriter), these pop culture tomes make for appealing reading and easy gifts — especially when probing the gossipy private life of a public figure. With the roll out of this year’s high-profile music bios — a staple of the celebrity book genre — now well under way, here’s a guide to the season’s standout studies and tone-deaf duds. Because, let’s face it: not everyone is as exciting on the page as they are on the stage.
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1. Susan Boyle’s now infamous TV audition — her performance of “I Dreamed A Dream” on Britain’s Got Talent — was auto-tuned. [via 9 News]
2. For reasons unknown Mission: Impossible 4 will not be called Mission: Impossible 4. And it won’t pick up where Mission: Impossible 3 ended. [via The Playlist]
3. Oscar-nominated screenwriters Stephen J. Rivele and Chris Wilkinson (Ali, Nixon) have been hired to write Antoine Fuqua’s forthcoming Tupac Shakur biopic. [via Vulture]
4. Pussycat Dolls ringleader Nicole Scherzinger is set to guest star on the upcoming season of How I Met Your Mother as part of a plotline involving Robin Sparkles. [via MTV]
5. If Conan O’Brien wins an Emmy on Sunday, he’s legally prohibited from saying whatever he wants about his former bosses. Here is what he can say.
Bonus link: YouTube has launched a full-length movie section
1. It’s official: Conan O’Brien is gone after Friday’s show. But we don’t feel sorry for him: The deal with NBC is said to be worth around $45 million. [via USA Today]
2. Does anyone else find it strange that the same week Vampire Weekend hits No. 1 on the Billboard album chart, Susan Boyle is sitting pretty at No. 2? [via MTV]
3. Quentin Tarantino has placed Avatar at the top of his updated best films of 2009 list. He also added Julie & Julia. [via FirstShowing]
4. Adult Swim has ordered 40 more episodes of Robot Chicken, ensuring that the Seth Green and Matthew Senreich-created show will be on TV for a fifth and sixth season. [via Variety]
5. YouTube announced yesterday that it will make movies from the 2009 and 2010 Sundance film festivals available for online rental; meanwhile over at Hulu they’re planning to charge users to watch episodes of 30 Rock, Modern Family and House.
1. Haterade and “high production costs” cited as Comedy Central‘s reasons for axing ventriloquist comedy The Jeff Dunham Show. [via The Live Feed]
2. Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich is officially aging: not only does he hate downloading via The Internet, he suffers from tinnitus. [via CNN]
3. James McAvoy will drop his Scottish brogue to play Sir Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond: let the sexually suggestive nicknaming begin. [via Vulture]
4. The municipality of Seaside Heights, New Jersey, has spoken out against guido-dom, saying the town did not “solicit, promote or participate in the filming” of MTV’s latent hit Jersey Shore. [via ArtsBeat]
5. Lady Gaga is hankering to collaborate with Susan Boyle, though don’t hold your breath for a guest spot at Gaga’s NYE gig by the Fontainebleau Miami pool. [via The Sun]
Bonus link: The Ten Nudest, Lewdest Music Videos of 2009 (NSFW, obviously).
Today at Flavorpill, we learned a new sexual term: “chooching.” We laughed at the craziest fashion moments of 2009. We were confused by this marketing move by Hollywood — they do realize the teenage girl in The Lovely Bones dies, right? We were shocked and disappointed by the fact that Grace Coddington would choose Susan Boyle over Lady Gaga. We were thrilled to see two of our favorite NYC men hanging out in the same room. We got inside of the Hot Tub Time Machine. We wondered why all of the awards honor the same movie. We watched some new Iron Man 2 footage. We celebrated the Gawker Decade. We felt compelled by Dr. House’s happy dance to prescribe ourselves some Vicodin. And finally, we pre-ordered a limited edition Grain Edit t-shirt. Because we love them so!
As Andy Warhol said, everyone gets their 15 minutes. And some people’s 15 minutes are shorter than others’. We’re tracking the decade’s celebrities, internet and otherwise, who had the shortest staying power after making a huge splash in the cultural consciousness. You know, those people that everyone and their mother was talking about for weeks and then fell off the radar completely when the public eye got bored and turned elsewhere. Who? We know. We’ll remind you.
Our list is admittedly a little 2009-heavy, but the more prevalent the internet gets the easier it is to become an overnight sensation (or mockery). Plus, this year has been a really good one for attention junkies. Check it out after the jump.
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Today at Flavorpill, we chortled over Hipster Runoff’s annotated list of NME’s 50 artists who will change the face of music. We checked out the Susan Boyle spread in Harper’s Bazaar. We wondered if it was finally time for us to enlist in the Foursquare army. We got an extremely sneak peek at Disney’s upcoming animated film, Princess and the Frog. We compared the grown-up version of Saved By the Bell cast with their former selves and decided that most of them look the same. We listened to his oddly addictive cover of Kanye West’s “Heartless” on repeat. We were happy to hear that New York Times critic A.O. Scott will be taking over the reigns from the two Bens At the Movies. And finally, we lusted after this Swiss Family Robinson-inspired treetop office.
