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Freddie Mercury

Art

Idiosyncratic Illustrations of Memorable Musical Collaborations

By Tom Hawking on

We’ve written a bit about unexpectedly awesome musical collaborations here on Flavorwire over the years, and as such, we were rather taken by these illustrations of some such collaborations. They’re by artistic duo Pol and Sakiroo Choi, and we spotted them via Thaeger, whose write-up of the pieces may or may not be interesting reading, depending on how good your German is. Anyway, click through and check out some of our favorites — there’s Run-DMC and Aerosmith, Kanye West and Daft Punk, and various others (but not, sadly, David Bowie and Mick Jagger, although maybe some things are better left un-illustrated. … Read More

Music

How to Throw a Party Like a Rock Star

By Tom Hawking on

Last week our art editor Marina Galperina prepared for New Year’s Eve with an excellent survey of how to throw a party like various famous artists throughout history. This week, with our NYE hangovers largely conquered and our party appetites pretty much replenished, we’re revisiting the idea with a similar feature — only this time we’re focusing on the music industry, because, as pretty much everyone knows, no one throws a party like rock stars (and rappers, for that matter). From Freddie Mercury’s novel use for people under five feet tall to Richard D. James’s Miami beach nightmare, it’s all here… Or is it? Let us know if we missed anything. … Read More

Art

The Show Must Go On: 15 Artistic Tributes to Freddie Mercury

By Emily Temple on

This past Thursday marked the 20th anniversary of cultural icon Freddie Mercury’s death of AIDS-related pneumonia. In some ways, however, it doesn’t seem that long — the Queen frontman is still an incredible influence in art, music and fashion, and has been frequently name-checked as one of the biggest influences of many musicians, including Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, two of pop culture’s current reigning queens. Indeed, something about the Zanzibar-born Mercury (née Farrokh Bulsara) is singularly inspiring — his incredible showmanship, his forward-thinking, his unimpeachable talent both for singing and songwriting, his independent attitude, that moustache — and he continues to have a hand in many forms of art today. On the 20th anniversary of Freddie Mercury’s death, we’ve rounded up a few artworks, both large and small, that pay homage to the man, the myth, the legend. Click through to see our Freddie-art, and let us know which capture him the best in the comments. … Read More

Design

Iain Heath’s Incredible, Geeky Pop-Culture LEGO Sculptures

By Judy Berman on

We were sold on the work of LEGO sculptor Iain Heath the moment we spotted his Freddie Mercury portrait at Super Punch. So we were thrilled to find that he’s got an entire Flickr site full of incredible, pop-culture LEGO constructions. Although there are a few funny political caricatures (Sarah Palin, Arnold Schwarzenegger), Heath specializes in recreating the nerdiest of characters and celebrities: Stephen Hawking, Futurama, Monty Python, Star Wars, the anime films of Hayao Miyazaki. Geeks, rejoice, in the gallery of our favorite Heath sculptures after the jump, then visit him on Flickr to see much, much more. … Read More

Web

What’s On at Flavorpill: The Links That Made the Rounds In Our Office

By Caroline Stanley on

Today at Flavorpill, we met nine presidential candidates who weren’t great students — a list, that it’s worth noting, was inspired by Rick Perry. We couldn’t believe how much this guy sounds like Freddie Mercury. We paid tribute to some of our favorite dearly-departed Disneyland rides. We thought … Read More

Media

Hilarious and Imaginative Illustrated Newspaper Headlines

By Judy Berman on

Headline writing is an art akin to haiku: you have very little space to stylishly convey your meaning while also piquing readers’ interest. Pair that challenge with the time constraints of a 24-hour news cycle, and the result is quite a few headlines with unintentional — and often humorous — double meanings. Design You Trust points us to F*ck Yeah Headlines, a Tumblr that reinterprets these titles with hilarious illustrations. See a science story transform Freddie Mercury into a sea creature, learn Kim Jong-Il’s “bikini secrets,” and enjoy a Jennifer Aniston-fronted human centipede in a selection of our favorites from the blog after the jump. … Read More

News

The Morning’s Top 5 Pop Culture Stories

By Caroline Stanley on

1. Today would have been Freddie Mercury’s 65th birthday, and Google is honoring the Queen frontman with an animated Doodle tribute that took them nearly three months to create. [via Gawker]

2. It looks like The Help — which is sitting pretty at number one for the third week in a row now… Read More

Partner Buzz

10 Cultural Icons We Lost to AIDS

By Caroline Stanley on

While AIDS cases are on the decline in many parts of the world, it’s still our most pressing global epidemic. Thirty-five million people are affected by HIV/AIDS worldwide. Last month marked the 30th anniversary of the discovery of HIV in West Hollywood.

In honor of this anniversary, we wanted to highlight MAC Cosmetics who has been doing more than their part to trim the numbers since 1994. With your help, the MAC AIDS FUND has raised $218 million exclusively through the sale of MAC’s Viva Glam Lipstick and Lipglass donating 100 percent of the funds to support people living with HIV/AIDS around the world. You can also get involved and spread awareness by going to Vivaglam.com, creating an online profile, and uploading a photo of yourself for a chance to be part of the largest fashion collaboration in history with MAC and Lady Gaga.

We were also inspired to pay tribute to 10 cultural icons who died due to AIDS-related causes. Read on for our roundup. … Read More

Fashion

Wanted: Xiu Xiu’s Freddie Mercury Cat T-Shirt

By Judy Berman on

Here are three things we love: Xiu Xiu, cats, and Freddie Mercury. So the universe must really have been reading our mind when it arranged for Xiu Xiu main man Jamie Stewart to collaborate with artist J. Morrison on — get ready for this — a totally weird, gold-and-pink-on-black T-shirt featuring a conjoined pair of cats and the words “Freddie Mercury.”

The creation is only the first installment in a 12-month subscription series, which will entitle subscribers to 13 shirts designed by the pair, each in tribute to a different hero. You can buy either the single shirt or the entire series at Xiu Xiu’s website. Seriously, we are getting our credit card out right now. … Read More

Earplug

Quick Costumes: 10 Dead Musical Icons Who Aren’t Michael Jackson

By Jessica Suarez on

Thanks to “Thriller,” Michael Jackson costumes have been a Halloween favorite for years. His untimely death, however, just moved the costume from parody to homage. This Halloween, you can expect a glut of glove-toting tributes — but that’s no reason to follow suit. Many other deceased musical icons deserve your hastily thrown-together attention. After the jump, our picks, from Biggie to Kurt, along with the essential-icon items that will make you sure to be… Read More