LOVE IT
• Mars will revive Crispy M&M’s in the U.S.–after a full decade–in 2015.
• JP Gibson, a 5-year-old diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2012, got to sign a one-day contract to play for the Utah Jazz.
• Asking for names is reportedly verboten at the Starbucks located at CIA headquarters.
• Creators David Lynch and Mark Frost will helm a new Twin Peaks series on Showtime in 2016.
THE DIGITS
3,097
Number of pieces in the world’s largest collection of Harry Potter memorabilia, owned by Menahem Asher Silva Vargas of Mexico City
REAL TALK
Nope, that’s not a photograph–it’s an oil painting by American artist Richard Estes, who was a major figure in the photo-realism movement that got started in the late 1960s. Bus With Reflection of the Flatiron Building (1966–67) is one of many Estes works on display at the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s retrospective “Richard Estes’ Realism” through Feb. 8, 2015.
QUICK TALK
Andrew Lincoln
On Oct. 12, the 41-year-old actor returns as Rick Grimes, the leading man in AMC’s The Walking Dead. The show, in which bands of frazzled survivors try to navigate a zombie-infested apocalypse, has grown progressively darker and more popular over the past few years.
–MATT VELLA
When you showed up to the premiere event without a beard, people freaked about what it could mean for this season’s plot. How does it feel to have facial hair that can launch a thousand blog posts?
Plotwise, it could mean an extended flashback, I found a razor or I’m dead. But I had no idea the sort of shock waves that being clean-shaven would make.
Is it difficult working on a show that has such passionate fans?
The first time I saw my face tattooed on somebody’s body, that was pretty overwhelming.
Which is harder to get used to shooting: zombie-on-human brutality or human-on-human brutality?
The thing I’m more interested in, certainly this season, is the human factor. We are moving into a much more terrifying and psychologically scary landscape, because the people that inhabit this world now are either very dangerous, very pragmatic or very organized. Or all three.
Has any of this desensitized you to onscreen violence?
No. I read a script for a movie recently, and I couldn’t finish it. I was terrified. I had to phone my agent and say, “It’s really great. I think it’s going to be a hit. But I can’t do it because it’s too scary.” I’m still as soft as when I walked into the job.
TWEET BEAT
Which Celebs Should Duet Next?
We asked our Twitter followers who would make worthy–or just funny–successors to album collaborators like Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett or Pink and folk artist Dallas Green.
KANYE WEST AND TAYLOR SWIFT
“Would cause a stir.”
–@badlydrawndobs
MACKLEMORE AND IGGY AZALEA
“Because they’re the king and queen of rap.”
–@hunterschwartz
GRAHAM NASH AND QUESTLOVE
“Because why the hell not?”
–@fabflabulous
MARIAH CAREY AND ARIANA GRANDE
“So we can have music evidence of what happens when the new Supreme is chosen.”
–@alex_abads
LIFTOFF
This house bubbling up over the earth’s surface might resemble a massive diorama–or a monstrous Photoshop creation–but it’s actually a sculpture, Firing for Effect, and not even 4 ft. (1.2 m) in diameter. All its details were hand-painted by Thomas Doyle, one of 45 artists featured in the book Big Art/Small Art, which highlights works that play with scale in unusual ways.
VERBATIM
‘I don’t want to be labeled “gay.”‘
RAVEN-SYMONÉ, actress and former star of The Cosby Show and That’s So Raven, explaining to Oprah Winfrey that she doesn’t want to be defined by the fact that she’s dating a woman. She added, “I want to be labeled ‘a human who loves humans.'”
LEAVE IT
• Japanese company debuted a “tranquility chair” with giant, human-looking arms to hug sitters.
• Jeopardy!’s recent “What Women Want” category was designed to prompt answers like “What is a vacuum cleaner?”
• Jimmy Kimmel is McAfee’s “most dangerous” celebrity of 2014, meaning that searching for his name can often lead to virus-laden websites.
• North West has dolls made to resemble her parents Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
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