Recession Cinema

By Jeffrey Bloomer at 7:00 AM on March 2, 2009

As financial chaos has erupted across international markets, Hollywood has been careful to project an image of calm...  read more

David Lynch joins Twitter

By Sean Gandert at 9:15 AM on February 26, 2009

The great thing about David Lynch is that whenever you think that something's too weird, even for him, he sets out to prove you wrong. Sometimes this comes out in his movies. You think to yourself, "That Lynch guy's pretty strange, but not even he would make a studio sitcom starring surreal, non-speaking bunny rabbits." Then you enter the theater and there they are, freaking you out in ways too difficult to explain. It's a patented David Lynch Moment™....  read more

Demetri Martin creates a 224-word palindrome poem

By Rachel Dovey at 3:53 PM on February 20, 2009

Demetri Martin's poster-making abilities suggest he might just be as witty in writing as he is on-camera. But his 224-word palindrome poem (that's right, the entire poem reads the same backwards and forwards) effectively proves it....  read more

Paste's guide to the 2009 Academy Awards

By Paste Staff at 8:00 AM on February 20, 2009

The 2009 Academy Awards will air...  read more

Facebook terms of service switcheroo ruffles feathers

By Rachel Dovey at 2:39 PM on February 18, 2009

In his article a few weeks ago, "Oh The Random Things We Do For The Sake of Facebook," Washington Post staff writer Dan Zak raised a chilling question. Citing the viral spread of Facebook's "25 Random Facts," he wrote, "People are supremely comfortable sharing intimate information about themselves in this pseudo-celebrity culture of online social networking." Then he quoted communications professor Michael Stefanone, "But what happens when I can learn about you and you're not aware of it?"...  read more

The art of the album cover finds an exhibition

By Liz Stinson at 3:31 PM on February 13, 2009

Ever wonder who designed Blur's Andy Warhol-esque Best Of album? Or how about the influences behind Spiritualized's Let It Come Down plaster-like album art? Maybe you haven't, but Patrick Murphy has....  read more

Louvre debuts the "Funeral of Mona Lisa"

By Rachel Dovey at 8:45 AM on February 12, 2009

In the long-gone days before technology, Mona Lisa was revered for her enigmatic smile. But since we've entered the digital age, she's earned the less-distinguished title of most-photoshopped painting in history. Amid a slew of Lisa's re-imagined with Marge Simpson or Paris Hilton's head (or the ever-delightful cow of Gary Larson fame), Yan Pei-Ming's sober display, "The Death of Mona Lisa," stands out with refreshing distinction....  read more

Sirius XM prepares to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy

By Liz Stinson at 2:41 PM on February 11, 2009

To borrow and bastardize the ever-popular words of Farrokh Bulsara: another company is biting the dust. Or is about to, it seems....  read more

Shepard Fairey files lawsuit against the Associated Press

By Liz Stinson at 10:10 AM on February 11, 2009

Looks like we've got a classic copyright infringement battle our hands, as a new lawsuit emerges from the tangled web of campaign posters, press photos and red, white and blue....  read more

First rock concert for deaf people to be held in Toronto

By Liz Stinson at 2:18 PM on February 5, 2009

Remember that scene in Mr. Holland's Opus where Richard Dreyfuss is singing John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy" to his son Cole? It's the one where sign language interpreters stood on stage and large speakers filled the concert hall so the hearing impaired could feel the vibrations of the music. At that time (early 1980s), the most a deaf person could do to feel the power of music was to let the vibrations and beats coming through a speaker travel through his or her body....  read more

Zach Galifianakis announces last-minute NYC gig tonight

By Austin L. Ray at 2:02 PM on February 5, 2009

Everybody's favorite absurdist comedian (well, ours anyway), Zach Galifianakis, announced last night via his e-mail newsletter that he'll be playing a short set tonight (Feb. 5) at the UCB theatre in New York City. Known as Variety Shac, the show will also feature, according to the newsletter, "some wonderful ladies that are too fun to describe." Admission is $5 (!) and though advance reservations are sold out, there will be a stand-by line. ...  read more

Best of 2008: It's your turn

By Liz Stinson at 2:13 PM on February 2, 2009

Paste announces its 2008 Reader Survey...just in time for Feb. '09!  read more

Paste editor-in-chief speaks with Trap Door Sun

By Austin L. Ray at 9:45 AM on February 2, 2009

Recenty, Paste editor-in-chief Josh Jackson spoke with Trap Door Sun, a webzine "where authenticity gives birth to inspiration," according to the site's tagline. What did he have to say? "It seems everything is conspiring to kill magazines—the ridiculous inefficiencies of the newsstand, the rising paper costs, the latest dips in the advertising industry." But it wasn't all doom and gloom. In fact, how could it have been with a title like "Waffles, Beer and Music?"...  read more

Will Ferrell's George W. Bush a hit on Broadway, too

By Jeffrey Bloomer at 10:25 AM on January 30, 2009

A flagship on Saturday Night Live for years, Will Ferrell’s droll impersonation of George W. Bush proved to be an honored commodity, much as Tina Fey’s Sarah Palin would be later on. So to coincide with his beleaguered subject’s departure from office, Ferrell rolled the dice and took it to Broadway for another go-around. ...  read more

Meg White to auction off drums for benefit

By Natasha Richardson at 9:28 AM on January 30, 2009

White Stripes drummer Meg White of has donated a drum kit to auction off as part of a fundraiser for Detroit music scene legend Jim Shaw. Shaw was recently diagnosed with cancer. ...  read more

Stan Lee, Marvel, others sued for $750 million

By Jeffrey Bloomer at 8:35 AM on January 30, 2009

In a sweeping lawsuit filed Monday, Stan Lee, Marvel and several others were sued for $750 million by shareholders over profits from Stan Lee Media, a comics website that filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001. ...  read more

Louvre to feature comics for the first time

By Michael Saba at 4:36 PM on January 29, 2009

We love our comics here in the U.S. of A., but certain stereotypes have lingered about the artistic pretensions of the wine-and-cheese set across the Atlantic. Well, at long last we can congratulate ourselves on the good taste that compelled us to keep those boxes of Annie Oakley issues secreted in the attic (not to mention the handsome hardcover edition of Watchmen.) That bulwark of Western European high culture, the Louvre Museum, is at long last putting in exhibits on comics. ...  read more

Musical version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" in the works

By Natasha Richardson at 2:08 PM on January 28, 2009

Michael Jackson's 1983 music video for "Thriller" is heading to the stage....  read more

Vatican launches pope-endorsed YouTube channel

By Jeffrey Bloomer at 9:24 AM on January 28, 2009

Pope Benedict XVI joined the ranks of foul-mouthed little kids and baby animals with the launch of the Vatican’s official YouTube channel last week. ...  read more

John Cleese adapts A Fish Called Wanda for the stage

By Rachel Dovey at 9:47 AM on January 22, 2009

According to the Telegraph, John Cleese is in the process of adapting his 1988 hit movie A Fish Called Wanda for the stage. And curtain calls won't be the only addition to the original script: Cleese is turning the "smashing comedy" of a jewel heist gone awry into a musical. ...  read more