Today at Flavorpill when we were supposed to be busy working… we gave thanks to Justin Timberlake for saving us a good hour and 28 minutes of our lives, freaked ourselves out by watching some really upset young Republicans, considered what we’ll miss most about Mike Luckovich’s George W. cartoons for the New Yorker, encountered one Thanksgiving turkey that we’d never want to eat, just said NO! to phone book delivery, encountered some much-needed visual optimism about where our country is headed, and empathized with Jen Statsky after reading her roundup of a few text messages that would have been helpful to receive.
Before we got in touch with our teenage side, last night we headed downtown to Stricola Contemporary in Manhattan to celebrate the launch of a new book, Frezno, from one of our favorite NY-based photographers, Tony Stamolis.
Stamolis spent six years documenting his hometown of Fresno, Calif. (which came in dead last in a government survey of towns with a high quality of life), and in his resultant tome, paints an honest portrait of urban decay that is at once provocative, humorous and disquieting.
Last night’s party — replete with a mariachi band, canned Bud, signature beer kozies and temporary tattoos, as well as a taco truck — was a fitting tribute to Freszno and Fresno alike. As much as we loved the free beer and marinated pork, the best things about the night were the oversize, color-saturated photographs printed on vinyl banners with grommets — and getting the chance to chat up the man of the night.
Check our interview with him after the jump.
Growing up, our parents were never willing to shell out for NKOTB tickets or take us to see Tiffany at the mall, so when we were invited to join a group of teen magazine editors at an opening-night, midnight screening of Twilight, we jumped at the chance to witness a slice of hormone-driven teen hysteria first-hand.
At 10:30 p.m., after a thorough prepping from the editors about the intensity of teens’ passion for anything Twilight-related, we entered the theater, ready to finally be a part of the action. What we witnessed there was shocking.
First of all, nobody there was a teenager. Seriously. There were throngs of females, but everyone looked to be about 24—more Intermix than Hot Topic. (To be fair though, we did see quite a few of these tees). In fact, the SATC-ified crowd was so homogeneous, we couldn’t help thinking this would have been the perfect place to do a little targeted marketing—doesn’t YAZ have new pill packaging or something that they’d like to promote?
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“Former Martial Arts World Champion and Film Star Lou Neglia is bringing 10,000 Karate Kids to protest Governor David Patterson’s chop of Children’s Programs, that are going to be cut because of the 14 billion dollar deficit.” SOUNDS SCARY. TELL US MORE. “Neglia is calling on a March on Albany, next week on the day before Bruce Lee’s birthday, November 26, 2008. The group is calling for Mixed Martial Arts to be allowed in New York State to make multi-million dollar revenue to save children in need.”
Named after an ’80s fantasy flick starring Matthew Broderick and Michelle Pfeiffer, New Zealand’s Ladyhawke is carrying the torch for the decade of her birth in a big way. The artist, known to her family as Pip Brown, released her self-titled debut album in the U.S. this week. A mix of retro-synth pop, dance-floor cool, and timeless tunes, the record has already charted everywhere from her native continent to her adopted home of England, where she is currently on her first headlining tour. While Brown is drawing comparisons to everyone from Pat Benatar to Peaches, she’s also drawing a host of celebrity fans, including Kylie Minogue and Courtney Love.
Everyone at Flavorpill is talking about this KTUU interview with Sarah Palin at an Alaskan turkey farm; if the same thing is happening in your office right now and you and your coworkers are feeling inspired to get your Friday night started early, indulge us by competing in our Flavorwire Sarah Palin Turkey Interview Drinking Game Challenge.
As always, add your own rules in the comments and don’t blame us if you get in trouble for getting sauced on the job.
You must drink every time…
- That creepy guy in the background looks directly at the camera
- Palin says the words “great”, “appreciation”, “candidates”, “oil”, or “government”
- Palin makes a word folksy by leavin’ off the “g”
- Palin shrugs with mock humility at the interviewer
- You spot Palin’s banana clip
- That creepy guy in the background kills a turkey
Lightning round: When you see Palin wink, start chugging. The first one finished with their drink wins.
“We went there with it. You see Britney in a light you’re not used to seeing her in. She’s intelligent, she’s introspective, she’s honest. By the end of the film you really understand who she is in a way that you just never imagined. … It is so not a puff piece.” - Britney Spears’s manager Larry Rudolph so swears up and down that her new documentary On the Record (premiering on MTV November 30) will be nothing like her train wreck of a reality series, Chaotic.
Eagerly awaited teen-vamp romance Twilight finally comes out today, which means it’s kind of an early Christmas for two types of people: fourteen-year-old girls with a thing for pasty dudes and pun-loving movie critics.
It’s convenient that the movie has been getting pretty pale reviews (HA get it?), because we get tons of cheesy vampire word-play (plus gratuitous Robert Pattinson photos) to share with you over lunch. Enjoy.
‘Twilight’ to suck up buckets of blood…and big bucks [Hollywood Insider]
Twilight: Love bites [Toronto Star]
‘Twilight’ barely gets the blood flowing [USA Today]
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1. Still life with steak [HuffPo]
2. Apparently, a tea pot can bring the sexy [ID]
3. Mickey D’s goes minimalist [ACL]
4. Mailing tape that’s slightly cracked [Draw Me A Sheep]
5. The writing is on the bed…and the bread…and some other stuff too [Typography Served]
6. This web design really grows on you [Charmingwall]
7. Glow-in-the-dark denim. Want. [MashKULTURE]
8. A carafe that really rains when it pours [Swiss Miss]
9. Green your ollies [Inhabitat]
10. Why aren’t our coins this cool? [Core77]
VIEW THE DESIGN PORN IMAGE GALLERY HERE
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