So, what’s going on here? Even if VF was, at one time, unaware of what it was doing, a few years of scrutiny should have gotten its editors thinking about who they aren’t showcasing. Now, we’re left to wonder whether the magazine thinks the risk of putting a non-white actress on the newsstand is so high that it’s worth enduring widespread annual accusations of racism. Readers, what do you think is going on in the VF boardroom?

2. “I have heard that Lady Gaga is keen to play Amy in a film. I don’t know what her English accent is like but it’s not just an English accent she would have to perfect – it’s an English-Cockney-Jewish accent so she better start practicing now. But she would be great.” — Amy Winehouse’s father Mitch, as quoted by The Mirror. Meanwhile The Daily Mail is reporting that he says that there will never be a film. Which UK tabloid do we trust?!

3. Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp were on Rock Center last night discussing their talented son, Marcel the Shell, with host Brian Williams. Watch the adorable interview (which takes place in their adorable Brooklyn apartment) here.

4. Evidently, James Franco is now writing movie reviews for The Paris Review. He also narrates the new documentary Eames: The Architect and the Painter, which comes out on DVD today.

5. You know that you need to watch SNL cast member Taran Killam re-create Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend” video. Why doesn’t he get to do stuff like this on the show? [via Vulture]

Bonus Buzz: 26 Of The Best Of The Worst Family Holiday Cards

So, here’s their big headline this time: “Courtney Love on Kurt Cobain: ‘For What He Did to Us, I’d Fucking Kill Him.’” While she does indeed say these words when asked if she was angry about Cobain’s suicide — and Vanity Fair makes sure to get them into the lead — the majority of the piece (which seems to have no particular peg or reason for being, aside from the public’s eternal interest in Love’s mental instability) is actually about how much Love misses her estranged daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. While there’s no comment from Frances, her lawyers do surface to maintain that just about everything her mother says is false. And then there’s the matter of “the fraud,” Love’s theory about what has become of all the money she and Cobain should have had. Taken together, it’s your latest gratuitous “Courtney Love Is Crazy” piece — enjoy it, America!

But there are still a few things we find unsettling about the cover. Read all about them — and see how last year’s compares to this year’s — after the jump.

2010:

2011 (click on the image to see a larger version):

For one thing, the before-the-fold image readers will see on the newsstand remains as white as can be: Anne Hathaway, flanked by Perennial Dreamboat Jake Gyllenhaal, Sexiest Man Alive Ryan Reynolds, and her Oscars co-host, Weirdest A-Lister of All Time James Franco.

As for the quirkier folks (hi, Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield), the indie stars (hey there, Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the barely dressed ladies (Olivia Wilde, Mila Kunis), the elderly (Duvall), the foreign (yes, that is on the far right Noomi Rapace), and the non-white (Mackie and Jones)? You’ve got to open up the magazine — which you’ve probably already purchased, by then — to see them.

Perhaps this all happened by chance (although we’re guessing VF‘s biggest cover of the year sees its share of pre-publication scrutiny). And it still represents a significant improvement over 2010′s depressingly homogeneous version. But next year, in the spirit of progress, we’d love to see a Hollywood Issue that dares to spotlight even a single non-mainstream, non-white, non-young, or not conventionally super-hot actor before the fold.

2. Tina Fey is in talks to star in a Paul Weitz-directed adaptation of Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel Admission, a story about “an admissions officer at Princeton and her relationship with a prospective student who may not be Ivy League material.” [via The Wrap]

3. Last week the History Channel decided that they weren’t going to air The Kennedys, perhaps in part a result of pressure from the real Kennedys. Now it looks like Showtime is the only option if we’re ever going to see this miniseries on TV — and more importantly, Katie Holmes in all of her Jackie O. ensembles. [via Vulture]

4. You’ll never guess who is the first-ever guest editor of Vanity Fair’s Facebook page: Justin Bieber, who graces their February cover. Among his first posts in the week-long gig: “Gonna be a fun week — make sure you make some comments because I will send one random fan who writes in the comments section a signed copy of my book. LEGGOOOO!” [via MTV]

5. David Fincher and Trent Reznor are teaming up again; in what he calls a “natural step forward” for his career, the Nine Inch Nails frontman and his frequent writing partner Atticus Ross will be composing the score for Fincher’s adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. [via Rolling Stone]

Bonus link: Possibly The Greatest Volvo Photo Ever

(Click through for larger image.)

For maximum Hughes, we paired excerpts from four Very, Very Short Stories with stills from a few of his most beloved films: Planes, Trains & Automobiles, The Breakfast Club, Uncle Buck, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

From The Things That Bother Jeanne Marie on Friday, January 16, 2006, 4:04 p.m.: She took a test sip of her nonfat triple-vanilla almond latte. “Too fucking hot,” she whispered. “And the goddamn milk’s burned. Great. Three dollars for scorched milk and inauthentic syrup from Italy. What kind of fool am I?”

From Eulogy for Mildred Penniman: “Mildred Penniman,” he said softly, pausing between syllables, “was a teacher, a community leader, and an autogynephilic transsexual.”

From Ulysses S. Grant’s Last Battle: He thought of General G. A. Custer, vain fool with golden hair flying in the prairie breeze, surrounded on all sides, outnumbered, doomed, falling to his knees, pissing his britches, spitting blood, and vanishing into the eternal darkness pulling the trigger of his empty Colt revolver.

From The New Yorker #6: “How about my Pastel de Tres Leches?” Ashley asked as she nail-scraped a splatter of dried pigeon shit off one of her container-grown tomatoes.