Entertainment Weekly is so wild about The Vampire Diaries that this week’s issue features three separate covers, which find Nina Dobrev snuggling up with Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, and both fang-wielding fictional brothers at the same time. As Pop Culture Brain has noticed, that final image — a scantily clad shot of two vampire dudes romancing the human lady the both love — is mighty reminiscent of Rolling Stone‘s 2010 True Blood cover (minus the Demoiselles d’Avignon-style stares and creepy blood splatters).

Although we admit to never having watched an entire episode of The Vampire Diaries, the cover got us thinking: What’s the deal with vampire love triangles? As we noted in our recent roundup of pop-culture love triangles where the girl should have stayed single, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Twilight (where the conflict is between a glamorous vamp and a studly werewolf) also fit this pattern. There have already been endless think pieces on why teen girls find vampires so attractive. Could it be that the fantasy isn’t just about dating (or marrying or sleeping with) the undead, but also has something to do with being so desirable that two supernatural creatures are willing to fight over you? Readers, what’s your theory?

Ah, the girl-focused love triangle. For generations, male and female audiences alike have lived for watching two dudes fight over a woman, and oftentimes it can seem like a choice between the lesser of two jerks. Given the option, we would have loved to see these popular heroines — from Greek mythology to ’90s TV — embrace singledom instead.

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Today at Flavorpill, we took a tour of the Trumps’ incredibly gilded penthouse. We discovered that Snooki was wrong when she claimed that whale sperm is what makes the ocean so salty. We knew a few people who could stand to read Total Film’s exhaustive guide to The Hunger Games. We were excited to see Mayim Bialik recreate her Sassy cover photo from 1992. We were amazed by these “neon signs” made out of glowing E. coli. We vicariously ventured into an unguarded strategic military rocket motor factory near Moscow. We were surprised to learn that Ernest Hemingway once shopped at Abercrombie and Fitch. We were impressed by President Obama’s lovely handwriting. We imagined what Twilight would have been like if it had been penned by one of these literary greats. And finally, we decided that it was worth exploring The Daily Beast’s roundup of 31 ways to get smarter in 2012, especially as it involves playing more Words With Friends.

If you mention young adult literature to a member of the general public, a few series will probably come to mind their mind. Hopefully, they’ll think of Harry Potter or The Hunger Games, and even though they might know the novels from the movies or Entertainment Weekly covers, at least they’ll associate young adult literature with strong, resourceful heroines and rich, detailed fantasy worlds. They might also think of Twilight. Sparkling, whining Twilight, casting a dark Edward-shaped shadow on the world of YA in the public consciousness. If you step beyond the wall of Bella bookmarks and Jacob travel mugs in your local Barnes and Nobel teen section, however, you’ll see that YA has so much more to offer than live-sucking fetuses and werewolf abs. Click through to read about ten YA books from the last ten years that totally make up for Twilight, and let us know your own favorites in the comments.

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1. “There will never be a reunion … as I will never do anything with an as*hole like Will Smith. He is still an egomaniac and has not grown up. This constant reunion thing will never ever happen in my lifetime unless there is an apology, which he doesn’t know the word.” — Janet Hubert, the original Aunt Viv, explains why she skipped a recent Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunion

2. A People cover that surfaced on the Internet yesterday proclaiming that Twilight star Taylor Lautner is “Out & Proud” was actually a fake. Among the duped: Russell Simmons, who tweeted that he was “proud of Taylor Lautner for his bravery and his courage.” [via THR]

3. Van Halen — who have a new album due out on Interscope sometime in 2012 — have also announced plans to tour through the year with original frontman David Lee Roth. At 57, we’re wondering if his patented high-kicks will still pack the same punch. [via Rolling Stone]

4. Director Abel Ferrara and screenwriter Christ Zois are collaborating on a script that is inspired, in part, by the recent Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal. French film stars Gérard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani are rumored to be circling the lead roles. [via Vulture]

5. “Jail is really cold, I had no socks on. I’m fine though, bail was a lot even though I didn’t hurt anyone, I damaged some shit and I don’t know why rappers talk about jail like it’s cool. Oh my God I would go crazy.” — Tyler, the Creator blogs about the night that he spent in jail

Bonus Buzz: Unpublished Photos from the Set of It’s A Wonderful Life

There’s always been some serious tension between the Star Trek and Star Wars fan kingdoms, but the USS Enterprise’s Sulu — Mr. George Takei — has found a way to settle the score: blame Twilight instead. “Shut your big wormholes,” his message of peace opens to fans, claiming that they should take aim at Stephenie Meyer’s vampire menace. Sci-fi’s mutual threat and only real problem has ” … no great stories, characters or profound life lessons,” Takei laments. “Gone is any sense of heroism, camaraderie or epic battle. In its place we have vampires that sparkle, moan and go to high school.” Watch Takei work that old Sulu magic past the break before you pick sides. Resistance is futile. Read More »

The holiday season means one thing for many kids across the globe (of all ages — yes, that means you): toys. Film’s finest offerings have inspired the money-grubbing marketing gods to create some truly terrible and infinitely weird tie-ins that left many people shaking their heads and wondering, “Why?” Before you race to the toy store to make merry, take note of the bizarre movie-related toys that we’ve shared past the break. Twilight, an Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece, and even a Michael Bay movie have inspired some of the strangest playthings in history. Check in with our picks for the most peculiar, and leave us your own below. Read More »

Today at Flavorpill, we enjoyed Refinery29′s explanation of why Twilight is screwing up the next generation, courtesy of a former teen magazine editor. We discovered that Alec Baldwin is far from the first celebrity to be kicked off of a plane. We were highly entertained by a fake Twitter account created for Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo (a sample tweet: “Oh my god we ran out of hay. DM if you have any hay.”). We decided that these really are the ugliest Christmas sweaters of all-time. We got a sneak peek at the new Apple Store in Grand Central Terminal which opens to the public on Friday. We wanted to own a few pairs of Masaki Komoto’s conceptual glasses, a series of crazy designs that are based on the artist’s doodles. We wanted to meet the adult woman who would wear Lisa Frank clothing sans irony. We were happy to hear that Instagram is working on an Android app. We wondered if the Angry Birds couture trend will actually catch on. And finally, we were amazed by some of the work in this collection of artistically-painted cakes.

When it comes to investing in Hollywood stars, who is going to give studios the biggest return for their money? That’s the question answered by an interesting new survey from Forbes. A few things to keep in mind as you peruse their findings: Forbes looked at the last three non-animation movies of the 40 highest-earning actors in Hollywood, and the total compensation number includes both upfront and backend pay (ie, money made from DVD sales). The end result? A top five that’s dominated by young actors who have starred in some of the biggest franchises of the decade — and Anne Hathaway. Click through to find out who else made their list. Read More »

According to literary recommendation and social reading site Goodreads, there is no more divisive book than Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight — at least for the people who use Goodreads, that is. Not only does Twilight top both their user-created Best Books Ever and Worst Books of All Time lists, but the company has found that for the more than 880,000 Goodreads members who have read the book, opinions about it are pretty well split along state lines. As they point out, the “map of what each state thinks of Twilight ends up looking a lot like a map of the most recent election results.” We can’t say we’re surprised, exactly, but it’s a little wild to look at the country’s inclinations this way. Do you fit in with your state or are you your own tastemaker? Let us know in the comments!