Hostess attempts to inspire you with Padma Lakshmi's squiggle

Never underestimate the power of the squiggle. Hostess Brands this week kicks off a campaign asking consumers to submit squiggle-inspired works of art in honor of the decoration on its famous, cream-filled cupcakes. To help get the creative juices flowing, celebrities like Padma Lakshmi, Rosie O'Donnell and Jordin Sparks have created their own squiggly works of art. (That's Padma's creation shown here.) See more "Portraits of the American Cupcake" over on eBay, where they're being auctioned off to benefit Free Arts NYC, an organization that works with under-served children. Next, Hostess wants to see your own original artwork featuring the famous squiggle in a way that reflects your "personal heritage, experience and personality." Five winning portraits will be painted on Hostess delivery trucks across the country, and winners will also get a cool $1,000 in cash. The effort celebrates the iconic Hostess squiggle's 60th birthday.

—Posted by Elaine Wong

Hostess Cup Cakes' iconic squiggle celebrating its 60th birthday

Sixty years of sugary, squiggly goodness. That iconic white ribbon of icing atop Hostess Cup Cakes is celebrating a milestone, which made me contemplate the small yet significant decoration for the first time. Would the snacks taste the same without it? Probably not, but folks who ate them pre-squiggle—before 1950, that is—would have to confirm that. Is the squiggle trademarked? Definitely yes. (There's a scrap going on right now with Little Debbie.) How many loops does it have? Seven. Always seven. Oh, the stuff I learn at a swag lounge! As part of the anniversary, Hostess made its first appearance at the Access Hollywood Stuff You Must Lounge last weekend for the Golden Globes, feeding treats to celebs and gathering their personal cupcake memories. Jennie Garth, shown here, told how she was deprived as a child and had to bum the famous desserts off her friends at school. Bad parents! To make up for lost time, she got a vintage-looking lunchbox full of Hostess. Reporters had to make due with as many samples as they could stuff in their mouths. At least there was milk. Mmmm, tasty.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Twinkies' shelf life as impressive in the movies as it is in stores

And here I thought Zombieland was the greatest feature-film ode to Twinkies in recent memory. Turns out the indestructible cream-filled Hostess cakes have long been movie stars, with small but significant roles in Die Hard, Grease, Disturbia, Ghostbusters and the Bill & Ted flicks. Hat tip to Brandchannel for pointing out what makes Twinkies so appealing as Hollywood props: "They are, all at once, iconic Americana: nutritional garbage, proof of man's triumph over nature, and self-deprecatingly modest." A hero who eats Twinkies is immediately likeable, says the blog. Nothing like a little nostalgia and humor to get an audience on your side. The spongy treats may not often get the kind of screen time they enjoyed in Zombieland, where Woody Harrelson's character yearned for a simpler Twinkie-filled time, but chances are they'll keep popping up in our entertainment. Just don't go changing, Twinkie. It might mess with your close-ups.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Twinkies are far from undead with a starring role in 'Zombieland'

Woody Harrelson is on a cross-country trek for a safe haven in Zombieland, killing loads of the living dead along the way. But his real quest is for a spongy snack treat. His search for the last box of Hostess Twinkies provides some of the best ongoing gags in the flick, which picks up the Shaun of the Dead rom-zom-com genre and brings it stateside. The golden cakes remind Harrelson's badass road-warrior character, Tallahassee, of a simpler time. You know, before crazed cannibals took over the country in a virulent apocalypse. He and his sidekick, Columbus, played by Jesse Eisenberg, raid grocery stores looking for the snack, because "believe it or not," Tallahassee says, "Twinkies have an expiration date." At one point, they bust into a Hollywood mansion to see if anyone there had a junk-food fixation, but come up empty. "I told you we should have gone to Russell Crowe's!" another character, Wichita, cries. The irony: Harrelson reportedly eats clean and hasn't scarfed a Twinkie in decades. Some kind of cornmeal cake subbed for a real Twinkie, so the star didn't have to clog his arteries for his art. No word if cash changed hands for this plum product placement, which has Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle cult cred written all over it. (Hostess execs were at the premiere, so they apparently get the joke.) The Columbia Pictures movie, from first-time director Ruben Fleischer and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, is already the top seller on Fandango and is expected to be No. 1 at the box office this weekend. Keeping an eye on what it does for late-night Twinkie sales.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Hostess willing to cough up the bucks if you can throw strikes

If you've lost your job, don't worry. As long as you can throw a strike (make that three, actually) on a baseball field, you can still win $1 million. That's the prize money Hostess is dangling as part of an online "Steeerike ... It Rich!" sweepstakes program, which began this week. Hostess will randomly select one consumer, after June 26, to travel to Kansas City and enjoy a moment of fame on the Kansas City Royals' baseball field at Kauffman Stadium. Throw no strikes and you get $5,000. One strike: $10,000. Two: $15,000. Three and you're outta there with a cool $1 million.

—Posted by Elaine Wong