1. Does Seth MacFalane wish that Family Guy would get canceled? In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter he says: “Part of me thinks that Family Guy should have already ended. I think seven seasons is about the right lifespan for a TV series. I talk to the fans and in a way I’m kind of secretly hoping for them to say we’re done with it.”
2. Pitchfork is bringing a new music festival to New York City this February; according to the organizers, it will “include works by visual artists and game designers at galleries, museums and unconventional performance spaces around the city, along with four days of performances at clubs run by Bowery Presents.” [via ArtsBeat]
3. So here’s one (and quite possibly, the only) reason Star Wars fans might want to see Paul W.S. Anderson’s 3D version of The Three Musketeers when it hits theaters on October 21: it will be your first chance to check out the new 3D-converted Phantom Menace trailer. [via /film]
4. British book publisher Faber & Faber has named Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker as its new editor at large, a position once held by Pete Townshend. Explains Faber editor Lee Brackstone: “We now have an excellent portfolio of authors from the pop world and our intention is to develop these relationships and continue to build a reputation as the home for exciting and original writing on music.” [via Guardian]
5. NME.com has arbitrarily named Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” the best song of the past 15 years. Rounding out their top five: Arcade Fire, “Rebellion (Lies)”; Outkast, “Hey Ya!”; The Strokes, “Last Nite”; The Killers, “Mr. Brightside.” Do you agree with this list?
Bonus Buzz: 10 Pugs Extremely Upset With Dr Pepper
When the news broke that Neil Young is writing an all-encompassing memoir, it got us thinking about what other musicians — and specifically which of our favorite current indie rockers — we’d like to see compose tell-all autobiographies. Mysterious band break-ups, high-profile couplings gone awry, reclusive behavior, extensive touring, and cult childhoods exposed would all make for awesome, page-turning reads for those of us who have always been curious about the private goings-on behind the music. So, in hopes of giving our favorite potential memoirists a gentle push, we’ve complied a list of ten artists whose lives who we’d love to learn more about.
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Today at Flavorpill, we were surprised to discover how Time Warner actually profits from Anonymous’ attacks thanks to the group’s fondness for wearing Guy Fawkes masks. We watched the Foo Fighters take an NSFW shower together. We wondered why Justin Bieber decided on someone as innocuous as Taylor Swift for his first pranking victim on Punk’d. We made a mental note never to operate a party bus within arm’s reach of Matthew Fox. We enjoyed listening to Jarvis Cocker and The Strokes covering The Cars. We were thrilled that US bikini laws aren’t as strict now as they apparently were back in 1922. We were intrigued to hear that Josh Brolin will star in Spike Lee’s completely unnecessary Oldboy remake — perhaps this makes the project a little less egregious. We couldn’t resist downloading “Lick Yourself Clean,” the debut track from LCD Catsystem. We were thankful to Pop Candy for posting this list of the 10 best heavy metal documentaries. And finally, we found that just looking at this house made us hungry for dinner.
Today at Flavorpill, we adored Michel Gondry’s video for Björk’s “Crystalline.” We agreed that On the Road and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas are among the favorite books of the secretly jerky. We were not impressed (or surprised) by the trailer for Russian Dolls, the Brighton Beach-set Russian version of Jersey Shore. We celebrated the birthday of Mick Jagger, Helen Mirren, and Stanley Kubrick. We were as ambivalent about Stereogum’s Stroked cover album, celebrating the tenth anniversary of The Strokes’ Is This It?, as we have always been about the band itself. We watched a comedian behave badly at an Apple store without getting kicked out. Amazing line-up additions drove us to contemplate launching a Kickstarter project to fund our journey to December’s Jeff Mangum-curated All Tomorrow’s Parties in the UK. And finally, we read a new short story by Jennifer Egan that has us feeling even more compulsive about list-making than usual.
Even die hard hipsters have got to grow up sometime. And by ‘grow up’ we mean ‘start listening to boring dinner party music.’ But there is a middle ground — hipster orchestra Jingle Punks, who play surprisingly soothing versions of the indie rock anthems you know and love. As Jingle Punks founder Jared Gutstadt told FreeWilliamsburg, “It’s a simple concept… We took songs from the American Hipster songbook (MGMT, Strokes, White Stripes) and re-imagined them as arrangements for a civilized dinner party for the transitioning adult Hipster. Introducing – The Jingle Punks Hipster Orchestra which is our favorite “hipster approved” songs washed through the Mark Mothersbaugh filter.” Intrigued? Ready to wear a collared shirt over those skinny jeans? Click through to see a few of our favorite videos from the group, and check them out live at the Soho House NYC on June 12.
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The story behind an album cover is almost as good as the story on the cover itself. Here at Flavorpill, we’ve got a mild fascination with the album art that didn’t make the cut, whether it was rejected by the record label, by the artists themselves, or a fluke released by the band to make us laugh. If you ask us, sometimes the one that wasn’t chosen is even better than the official version, and that only adds to the mysterious allure of the covers that could have been. After the jump, check out seven of our favorite vulgar, funny, and creative rejects, and be sure to throw your contributions of lovable losers in the comments.
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1. Despite some truly horrible reviews from critics (particularly Roger Ebert), the alien invasion thriller Battle: Los Angeles conquered the weekend box office, taking in $36 million for a first place finish. Rounding out the top three were Rango ($23 million) and Red Riding Hood ($14.1 million). [via AV Club]
2. Variety is reporting that Academy Award-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone) is close to locking down the leading role of Katniss in the upcoming film adaptation of The Hunger Games. Discuss. [via ComingSoon]
3. A Million Little Pieces author James Frey is teaming up with art-gallery owner Larry Gagosian to release his new book, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, a kind of racy story about the second coming of Christ which takes place in the Bronx projects. [via Vulture]
4. Someone is leaving hipster traps — baited with Pabst Blue Ribbon, American Spirits, a bike chain and neon-pink Wayfarers — in locations around New York City. [via The Daily What]
5. The Strokes premiered five of the 10 songs from their upcoming album Angles (which is due out on March 22nd) live in Las Vegas on Saturday night; the band’s next stop is SXSW. [via NME]
Bonus link: Watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Recut As an Indie Coming-of-Age Movie
Welcome to Conversation Pieces, where Flavorpill curates five articles from the past week that you should read. Some are long, others are short. Some are from major publications, others aren’t. The only thing all these articles have in common is that they’re interesting. This week we examine The Strokes after 10 years, Dan Savage as America’s moralist, the science behind awful dancing, why rape is a sensitive issue and should remain that way, and more. After the jump, find something exciting to discuss this weekend in the home, at the bar, or on the street.
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1. Charlie Sheen just joined Twitter, and he already has over 600,000 followers. Our favorite tweet from @CharlieSheen so far — and one of the few that doesn’t involve some variation of the word “win”: “Just got invited to do the Nancy Grace show… I’d rather go on a long road trip with Chuck Lorre in a ’75 Pacer…”
2. Because they’re sick of kids having any fun in Sunday school, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has ordered up a new translation of the Bible where the word “booty” will be replaced by “spoils.” [via USA Today]
3. Well this isn’t surprising: Following his drunken, anti-Semitic tirade last week, John Galliano, former design director at Christian Dior, is headed into rehab. [via Gawker]
4. The Daily Mail has published yet another photograph of a man believed to be Banksy (but who kind of looks like Jason Schwartzman). The image was snapped in Santa Monica yesterday around the same time a new work for the anonymous street artist cropped up. [via Movieline]
5. Watch the first music video from the Strokes‘ upcoming album, a rather fancy looking clip for the lead single “Under Cover of Darkness.” [via Vulture]
Today at Flavorpill, we bookmarked The Mary Sue, a new site that will cover comics, sci-fi, anime, fandom, and other topics of interest to geek women. We were impressed by the many scarves of Darren Aronofsky. We met the world’s hairiest little girl, an 11-year-old named Supatra Sasuphan. We found it interesting that now that Mr. Potato has lost some weight, he suddenly feels the need to wear pants. We got way too excited over the fancy new design of Heinz’s ketchup packets. We caught up with Dan Sinker, the mystery man who just outed himself as the voice of the @MayorEmanuel Twitter feed. We wondered who if the next flavor of Ben & Jerry’s is going to be named after Jimmy Fallon — we’re rooting for Tracy Morgan instead. We listened to 30-second clips of all of the songs on the Strokes’ upcoming album. And finally, we discovered that Kirk Douglas used to be quite a fox back in the day.
