Today at Flavorpill, we were happy to see the White House getting into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit. We wondered who decided to put Tina Fey in a bright pink mom shirt on the cover of InStyle. We were excited to hear that NBC has renewed Community, Parks and Recreation, and The Office. (Don’t worry: 30 Rock was already renewed back in November.) We were disappointed to learn that the House of Representatives voted 228-192 to bar NPR from receiving any more federal funds; the only good news seems to be that the bill is unlikely to pass in the Senate. We were highly amused by these Royal Wedding sick bags. We couldn’t wait for Saturday to arrive so that we can see a super-sized moon. We read about some important breakthroughs in the new new media. We were sad to find out that Michael Gough, the actor who played Batman’s butler Alfred, had died. And finally, we decided to skip the green beer tonight and whip up some deliciously dour Potato Coladas instead, thanks to this recipe from our friends at The Hairpin.
The holiday decorations are going up at the White House today, and in case you’re curious, this year’s theme is “Simple Gifts” and is inspired by “our nation’s state and county fairs.” Which if you’ve ever been to a state or county fair, sounds like a horrible idea, aesthetically. Pictured above, a 400-pound white chocolate-covered gingerbread replica of the White House in the State Dining Room, complete with a faux Bo. Check out more photos of the White House decorations here.
Today at Flavorpill, we laughed out loud at catroulette. We watched 57 YouTube singers awkwardly cover “We Are the World,” presumably for Haiti. We imagined a world where we had “four or five Picassos” on our private plane. We met Tom Geismar, the man responsible for some of the world’s most recognizable logos, including the PBS silhouette. We welcomed Lil Wayne to Twitter. We wanted an invite to the White House’s annual Egg Roll because the cast of Glee will be performing there this year! We watched a bunch of zebras get relocated in Kenya. We decided that really old movie bloopers are inherently funnier. Speaking of really old, we wondered if there’s any chance in hell that Betty White will actually get to host SNL — regardless, we enjoyed Gawker commenters arguing about whether she’d be able to handle staying up that late. We were sad to hear that Christopher Wheeldon is leaving his own dance company due to friction. And finally we looked far, far down into the bottomless ocean from the comfort of our desks. Be warned: It’s kind of daunting.
Back in October the White House released a list of 45 artworks on loan to the Obamas from Washington museums. The artists selected vary in age, race, gender and geographical roots, reflecting the administration’s continued celebration of diversity. One particular painting, Watusi (Hard Edge), by African-American woman Alma Thomas (1891-1978) and on loan from the Hirshhorn Museum, caused quite the controversy. The 1963 painting, it turns out, is extremely similar to a 1953 piece entitled L’Escargot by Matisse, a maestro whom Thomas openly proclaimed an inspiration to her evolution as a painter.
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Today at Flavorpill, we were so patriotic that we decided to read about how much White House staffers get paid, until that is, we read that Reggie Love makes over $100k, and come on, all he does is freaking play basketball with Obama! Then we read a mixed review of the new Yankee stadium’s design. We listened to Quincy Jones say all sorts of crazy things about his protege, Michael Jackson. We OMG’ed at the news of the first Jonas brother engagement before becoming implicated in a lively debate among the interns about how much the JoBros suck (It was three to one in favor of “a lot”). We wondered how New York City’s discontinuation of film and television tax breaks would affect our dear sweet Ugly Betty. We thought this Katy Perry doll was freaky, but whatever, we’re not gonna let it ruin our long weekend. May the 4th be with you all.
