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Flavorpill Guide to This Week’s Top 10 New York Events

For our (unconscionably high) rent money, the best thing about living in NYC is its endless supply of fun, odd, and inspired cultural events — especially during the summer months. But with so many options, it can be hard to know where to even begin. To help you make sense of it all, Flavorpill Deputy Editor Mindy Bond shares the very best of what’s on offer this week. It’s just a taste of what you can find on the new Flavorpill, so if you like what you see, be sure to sign up… Read More

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The 50 Books Everyone Needs to Read, 1963-2013

The thing about reading is this: it takes a long time. There are innumerable books in the world, and many more good ones than can be read by any mortal in a lifetime. It’s hard to choose — especially if you’re a slow reader. So, to go along with the list of the best albums from 1963-2013, here you will find a single must-read book from each of the last 50… Read More

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‘Vice’ Removes Controversial Female Writer Suicide Spread: Is the Sophomoric Publication Finally Growing Up?

An editorial fashion spread tells a story using images, not words. It’s the photographer’s job to tell that story: what she intended, what she hoped to convey. In Vice’s latest spread, female writers like Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Dorothy Parker stare down their own pending demise at their own hands. The story is pretty clear: the editors of Vice were more interested in getting attention at any cost than paying respectful tribute to women writers who committed suicide, and editorial taste came second to the lazy grab for page views. Following an overwhelmingly negative response across the Internet, the editors of Vice removed the feature. … Read More

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How Kanye West’s ‘Yeezus’ Tears Down 30 Years of Hip Hop Orthodoxy

Ever since Kanye West’s Yeezus was announced, the general consensus has been that it’s a “producer’s record,” a label that really reflects the prejudices of whoever’s saying it — if you’re one of those who believe West’s a moneyed charlatan, there’s a whole roster of producers you can deflect credit to. But it would be contrarian to argue that West remains anything besides firmly in charge here. As with My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, it’s like he decided on the sounds he wanted for Yeezus and then drafted the producers best equipped to help realize his vision. … Read More

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Is the Tide Finally Turning on Rape Jokes?

Over the weekend, Slate picked up a long, thoughtful, and altogether excellent piece from Patton Oswalt’s blog, which amounts to something of a “state of the union” on three of comedy’s consistently hot topics: joke theft, heckling, and rape humor. The first two topics are covered (as is Oswalt’s standard practice) thoughtfully, passionately, and with no shortage of humor. But the headline here, the reason people should be talking about this piece, is that he does something rather extraordinary in his discussion of rape jokes: he alters his previously stated opinion. “I had my viewpoint,” he writes, “and it was based on solid experience, and it…was…fucking…wrong.” … Read More

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8 of the Strangest Families in Literature

Today marks the release of one of the summer’s most buzzed-about — and greatest — novels, Matt Bell’s dreamlike In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods. Without giving anything away, the book features a very strange family indeed, and so to accompany its release, Flavorwire has asked Bell to suggest some other fabulist, weird literary families worth your attention. Check out Bell’s picks after the jump, and if your own favorite bizarre literary family has been ludicrously misplaced here, add it to the list in the comments. … Read More

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What Happens When ‘Doctor Who’ Travels Into Disney’s Fairy Tale World

The Doctor has traveled all over the universe and across time, and it’s not unusual for him to interact with some famous historical figures from time to time. But why stop with Charles Dickens? Illustrator Karen Hallion envisions the Time Lord’s meetings with famous fairy tale figures (particularly those in the Disney canon) in her series Fairy Tale Who (via this isn’t happiness). What happens when the likes of Snow White and Cinderella step into the TARDIS? Well, you’ll have to come up with your own answers, but click through this gallery and let Hallion’s images inspire your own Doctor Who / Disney fan fiction. … Read More

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16 Things We Learned From Mitch Hurwitz’s Reddit AMA

Mitch Hurwitz, creator of Arrested Development, dropped in on Reddit yesterday to participate in an Ask Me Anything session. Unsurprisingly, that show — and its recently unleashed fourth season — was the primary topic of conversation, with Hurwitz shedding light on his favorite characters, his writing process, where the show goes from here, and the symbolic importance of the ostrich. We’ve sifted through the questions and comments to dig out Hurwitz’s most intriguing nuggets. … Read More

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