Friday, October 29, 2010

The Situation Turns Generally Gross

4th NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From New York Magazine and MTV

The Situation plays on Jersey Shore is from Staten Island, NY. He is also known as Mike.

Mike may have a sensitive side, but he has plenty of game to go with it. He knows what he wants from his summer at the Jersey Shore and is not going to let anything stop him from getting it -- even his roommates. The way he sees it, he has the situation under control.

Well, this episode was terrible. Save yourself some time and don’t read this recap, and, if at all possible, go back in time and unwatch this episode. Everything about it was awful, and should we even watch season three? Yes, but also definitely no. They’re all such idiots. And so, as punishment — because surely the show’s whole cast is reading and will feel very saddened by this — we’ll distribute Mike’s barfed-up frog legs from their Last Supper–style Everglades meal to whoever was the most entertaining.

Vinny: No Barfed-Up Frog Legs
Sammi: One Barfed-Up Frog Leg
Snooki: Two Barfed-Up Frog Legs
Pauly: Three Barfed-Up Frog Legs
JWOWW: Four Barfed-Up Frog Legs

The Situation: Six Barfed-Up Frog Legs
We have to hand it to Situation — as horrible as he is, he’s at least consistently entertaining. He eats frog legs and barfs them up nonchalantly. Steals Vinny’s grenades and makes out with one in a way that literally makes us scream alone in our house, shuttling them into the bathroom, doing something that we don’t even want to think about. What does the camera crew do during a moment like that?

Later, during the endless, moronic group fight that makes us not want to watch this show ever again, Situation basically reveals he’s in love with Pauly, whining on and on about how JWOWW was trying to “break up” their friendship. Then Ronnie addresses the fact that Vinny committed a “robbery” on Pauly, stealing him from Situation. Get a rooooooom, youuu guyyys. And that about wraps it up. A disappointing end to an otherwise amusing season.

Photo: MTV

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Adriana Lima Wears A $2 Million Victoria Secret Bra

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From Just Jared

Adriana Lima rocks a $2 million bra as she arrives at the Victoria’s Secret store in New York City’s Soho on Wednesday (October 20).

The 29-year-old Brazilian model modeled this year’s Bombshell Fantasy bra, which weighs in at 142 carats, including 60 carats of white diamonds as well as topazes and sapphires.

“It’s really a work of art,” Adriana shared. “I love diamonds - [they're] always a girl’s best friend!”


Arrow Exterminating's Horrifying Bedbug Commercial

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From Arrow Exterminating

NYC Bed Bug Control and Extermination

Bed bugs have made a resurgence in the New York area and many people are understandably concerned! With Arrow Exterminating, you’ve come to the right place. We’re the Bed Bug Control Experts and we’ll help you deal with bed bugs.

Here are some Bed Bug Facts:

  1. Bed bugs are blood sucking insects that feed on warm-blooded animals, usually humans. They are brown in color and quickly change to dark red after having a blood meal.
  2. Bed bugs are considered nocturnal and usually feed at night on sleeping hosts. However, bed bugs will feed during the daytime if they are hungry and given the opportunity.
  3. Bed bugs find a host by detecting the carbon dioxide and warmth given-off by the host.
  4. Bed bugs have special mouth parts to be able to pierce the skin and draw-up blood. The mouth parts consist of two tubes; one tube injects an anesthetic along with anti-clotting saliva and the other tube is used to draw-up the blood into the body. It is the saliva that causes the swelling and itch of the bite. Female bed bugs can deposit up to 5 eggs a day and 500 during their lifetime. Eggs hatch in 7-20 days depending on temperature. Adult bed bugs can survive 6-12 months without a blood meal and require only 3-5 minutes to complete their feeding.
  5. Bed bugs are not indicators of unsanitary conditions. These insects will infest the most extravagant hotels or the most humble of homes if they can get inside.
  6. Bed bugs do not transmit any diseases as far as we know. Bed bugs will travel long distances to get a blood meal. Some estimates are a far as 100 feet back and forth from their harborage sites. However, bed bugs usually stay much closer to their hosts.
  7. Bed bugs do not stay or attach themselves to a host to get a blood meal. After feeding, they will run off the host and scurry back to their hiding places.
  8. Bed bugs will often congregate in harborages. Where can you get bed bugs? Some favorite places that you can pick-up bed bugs are; gym lockers, busses, taxicabs, trains, planes, cruise ships, and movie theaters. Basically, you can get bed bugs from any public place people gather and spend some time.

What can you do to help prevent bringing these pests into my home? Awareness is the first defense! When returning home from a trip, whether domestic or foreign, examine your luggage, purses and carry-on items for bed bugs. Be sure to examine any gifts you may have brought home. Wash or dry clean all clothing items.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

ALPHAVILLE by Michael Codella And Bruce Bennett

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From Amazon

"Setting his story against one of the grittiest New York City neighborhoods of the late 1980s, Codella, a retired detective sergeant in the NYPD, with ghostwriter Bennett, relates how a tradition-rich district still populated by aging Polish and Ukrainian immigrants was threatened with destruction by the heroin trade. Codella describes his own origins in Brooklyn's Canarsie neighborhood, where old-time mob capos and cops lived side-by-side, as a prelude to his joining the police crusade against a ruthless drug kingpin, Davey Blue Eyes, and his loyal gang of smack dealers, "The Forty Thieves." They dominated the part of lower Manhattan known as Alphabet City. Written in a hyper-noir style reminiscent of Richard Price and George Pelecanos, this memoir features all the stuff of an excellent police procedural complete with drug gang rivalries, beatings, killings, and endless dealer collars and convictions. Raw, bloody, and very real, Codella's book is a historical snapshot of what was one of Gotham's most dangerous neighborhoods and the men who brought order to its frightening mayhem."
-Publishers Weekly

Jezebel Created A Teen Mom College Fund

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From Jezebel \ Oct 20, 2010

Teen Mom's Catelynn and Tyler have won us over, exhibiting strength and maturity in the face of hardship, and they've expressed a desire to continue their schooling. So we've decided to help them raise some cash for their college education.

"For the next two weeks, we will be accepting donations via PayPal; these contributions will go to a private account and then be given to Catelynn and Tyler. Obviously we can't guarantee that they'll use the cash to pay for college, but they've demonstrated their strong decision-making skills in the past, and we trust that they'll put the money to good use. You can click on this donation button, or send a PayPal payment to teenmomcollegefund@gmail.com

The young couple should be commended for having the wisdom to know that they were unable to give their daughter the kind of life that they wanted for her, and the sensitivity to make the kind of sacrifices in order to make sure that she would. However, they've been belittled and admonished for their gut-wrenching decision by Tyler's dad (who has been in and out of jail and rehab throughout his life), and Catelynn's mother (who has substance abuse issues of her own). Still, the pair are determined to improve their lives, by seeking out therapy and making plans to further their education."

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Luke Geissbuhler And Son Max Send Homemade iPhone Satellite to Space

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From Gizmag by Ben Coxworth

It’s an inspiring story that reminds you how the wonders of scientific exploration aren’t just limited to research institutions with big budgets... in August of this year, Luke Geissbuhler and his seven year-old son Max attached an HD video camera to a weather balloon and set it loose. They proceeded to obtain footage of the blackness of outer space, 19 miles (30 km) above the surface of the earth. Needless to say, there was a little more to it than just tying a piece of string around a camcorder.

Luke and Max created a miniature space capsule for their Brooklyn Space Program experiment, using a food take-out container. It contained the camera (with a peep hole for its lens), hand warmers to keep its battery warm, a “please return if you find this” note, and an iPhone, so that they could use its GPS to locate the capsule once it landed. The whole thing was coated in foam, to absorb the energy of a high-speed landing, and attached to a parachute.

The pair launched the balloon from Newburgh, New York, near their home in Brooklyn. Over the next 72 minutes, it proceeded to climb to over 100,000 feet (30,480 meters), encountering 100mph (161km/h) winds and temperatures of -60F(-51C) along the way. Due to the lack of pressure at such high altitudes, the balloon eventually expanded beyond its capacity and burst, sending the capsule on a 150mph (241km/h) parachute-assisted fall back to earth.

Amazingly, it landed just 30 miles (48 km) from its lift-off point, in the middle of the night. Using its external LED lamp to locate it visually, the Geissbuhlers found the capsule hanging from its parachute in a tree.

The project involved eight months of research and testing, but as you can see in the video below, the results were well worth the effort.

Jim Campbell 's SCATTERED LIGHT Installation @ Madison Square Park

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From Gothamist

Artist and M.I.T. grad Jim Campbell has a new installation—Scattered Light—that was just unveiled at Madison Square Park, and which features many, many light bulbs. One part of the installation is comprised of 2,000 LEDs spanning 80-feet and displaying flickering human silhouettes when seen from a certain vantage point, according to NYCLovesNYC.

The second part of the installation has the LEDs encased in a glass-brick wall; the Madison Square Park website says, “The light pulses emanating from each tablet will be rhythmically modulated to represent the voices of individual travelers as recorded in conversation on a subway platform, combining to create a visual symphony rendered in light.”

Campbell's installation will be on view through mid-February.


Monday, October 25, 2010

Prada Shoes From Spring 2011 Ready-To-Wear Collection

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From Style by Tim Blanks

Prada delivered electric hits of orange, green, blue, and radioactive violet in deliberately plain cotton suits, like the most (extra)ordinary uniforms. That theme continued in all the stripes. Prisoner, postman, sailor, orderly: The uniforms might have taken a cue from her last—equally special—men's collection, but they were also an evolution of Fall's spectacularly womanly shapes. This time around, however, the glamour was raw, amplified by the pop-colored stoles the models were toting, the graphic silent-movie makeup by Pat McGrath, and the severely sensual outfits in basic black that closed the show as the soundtrack crackled with the static of an old tango record. Miuccia's message was crystal-clear. As she said backstage, banana earrings vibrating: "It's time to be bold." And that's one maxim that, with any luck, will rub off on the world at large.

Courtesy of IMAXtree.com and Matteo Volta

Havard Club Rejects Eliot Spitzer

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From WE by Mark Hemingway

In his emergence from political disgrace, Eliot Spitzer has played multiple roles: political commentator, financial columnist, college professor, and, most recently, CNN host. One role he will not be playing: a member of the Harvard Club of New York City.

This year, the Midtown club turned down Mr. Spitzer’s application for membership — a rare snub by the club — because officials there did not want to be associated with Mr. Spitzer and the prostitution scandal that forced him from the governorship of New York in 2008, according to a person told of the decision by Harvard officials.

The Times further reports that the club, “which has about 11,000 members, admits nearly everyone eligible who applies.”

Image by Mark D Phillips

Clarence Thomas's Wife Asks Anita Hill for Apology

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From The New York Times By CHARLIE SAVAGE

In a voice mail message left at 7:31 a.m. on Oct. 9, a Saturday, Virginia Thomas asked her husband’s former aide-turned-adversary to make amends. Ms. Hill played the recording, from her voice mail at Brandeis University, for The New York Times.

“Good morning Anita Hill, it’s Ginni Thomas,” it said. “I just wanted to reach across the airwaves and the years and ask you to consider something. I would love you to consider an apology sometime and some full explanation of why you did what you did with my husband.”

Ms. Thomas went on: “So give it some thought. And certainly pray about this and hope that one day you will help us understand why you did what you did. O.K., have a good day.”

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ms. Hill claimed that Mr. Thomas had repeatedly made inappropriate sexual comments to her in the workplace, including descriptions of pornographic films. Mr. Thomas denied the allegations and called them “a high-tech lynching.”

From left, Mandel Ngan/AFP-Getty; Charles Dharapak/AP; Rodger Mallison/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, via AP

Friday, October 22, 2010

Wes Craven's MY SOUL TO TAKE

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From Hollywood by Brian Salisbury

Wes Craven is a revered name in the horror industry. One cannot run down a list of the greatest horror films of all time without at least mentioning A Nightmare on Elm Street. But the nasty little secret about Wes Craven is that, apart from that spark of competence, he is one of the most overrated directors of our time. The man has no grasp of performance, storytelling or cinematography and has limped along since A Nightmare on Elm Street traded upon his own name. The only other rays of light in his otherwise bleak filmography are A New Nightmare and Scream. But the appeal of both of those films is how self-aware and referential they are, not only to other, better horror films but, again, Craven’s own work!

So sitting down to view his newest film, My Soul to Take, I was skeptical, but, as always, hoping that Wes would prove me wrong. He did not. Take note of the title of this film and remember it well. Why? Because it will more than likely disappear from theaters in two weeks' time, and it will undoubtedly grace innumerable year-end Worst of 2010 lists.

The “story” revolves around a serial killer who dies and manages to parcel out his seven scattered personalities (or souls, I suppose) into the bodies of newborns. Sixteen years later those newborns are nubile teenagers who — you guessed it — get murdered because of this shaky connection to what has since become the town boogeyman.

How best to adequately chart the failures of this film? I honestly don't know where to begin. The cast, true to Craven’s impeccable lack of a nose for talent, is populated with some truly terrible young actors. Their line deliveries are flat and undisciplined, and it becomes impossible to sympathize with a single one of them.

This story is among the most lackluster of Craven’s already unimpressive catalogue. From start to finish, nothing makes sense, nothing fits and all must be explained through exposition machines because none of what we’re told is supported by a single preceding frame.

And beyond all of this, the film is savagely tedious. When examining the dialogue, the exaggerated — to a comic extent — high school experiences of the characters, and the after-school-special themes, Craven appears to be making a film aimed at 13-year-olds, forgetting that he’s actually making an R-rated slasher flick.



David Arquette and Courteney Cox Split

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From NY Daily News by Shari Weiss

Less than a day after David Arquette and Courteney Cox revealed they have separated, the actor is sharing when things fell apart and confirming that he has, in fact, already hooked up with someone else.

Speaking on Howard Stern's Sirius Satellite radio show Tuesday, Arquette told the shock jock it was Cox's idea to try a trial separation beginning shortly after their 11th wedding anniversary in June.

According to TMZ.com, Arquette explained the former "Friends" star told him she was tired of acting like my "mother." People.com adds Arquette said he understood that, admitting he's "going to therapy" and "trying to grow up."

Though they soon began filming "Scream 4" together, the two lead somewhat separate lives, which included having the freedom to date others.

And date he did. Arquette, 39, admitted in the interview to seeing former cocktail waitress Jasmine Waltz, 28, as rumored.

The actor told Stern he "did have sex with her one time, maybe twice," and it made him feel "manly," according to RadarOnline.com.

Merritt/Getty

Josh Luchs' "Sports Illustrated" Tell-All

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From Sports Illustrated

Editor's Note: This story includes the names of 30 former college football players who are alleged to have taken money or some other extra benefit in violation of NCAA rules. The primary source of these allegations is Josh Luchs, who has been a certified NFL agent for 20 years.

SI senior writer George Dohrmann met Luchs [pronounced LUX] in July while working on a story about the agent business. Luchs represented more than 60 players during his career, which placed him in the middle class of the industry. He was viewed by other agents as a particularly dogged recruiter and noted for his partnerships with more seasoned player representatives. When Dohrmann learned that Luchs was leaving the profession, he proposed a first-person account of life as an agent. Luchs was initially reluctant but ultimately decided to tell his story. At no point was he promised or given any form of compensation for his participation.

In more than 20 hours of interviews Luchs ­described the payments he says he made to players as well as other events in his career. He spoke in detail. remembering that a Miami player who visited his home ate a cold steak with his hands and that an Arizona lineman liked to hit golf balls through one wall of his apartment and that a key conversation with a player from Washington State took place in a hotel bathroom. Many of his accounts were bolstered either by photographs, money-order receipts or loan agreements, or by confirmations to Dohrmann or SI staff writer David Epstein from third parties who were present for meetings that Luchs had described. The response to each allegation can be found on the bottom of the same page on which the allegation appears.

Robert Beck/SI

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Jasmine Waltz

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From The Daily News by Cristina Everett

These "Friends" now have something in common -- their husbands have each found new women.

Jennifer Aniston had Angelina Jolie. And now, Courteney Cox has Jasmine Waltz.

Of course, Waltz isn't accused of being the reason as to why Cox and husband David Arquette announced the end of their 11-year marriage Monday night. But all eyes are now on the brunette beauty now that reports claim Arquette has been quietly dating her since the split.

"Jasmine and David have been hooking up recently," a source told Life & Style.

According to TMZ.com, Cox, 46, and Arquette, 39, were forced to reveal they have been in a "trial separation that dates back for some time" because photos have recently surfaced of the actor out with Waltz.

Jasmine WaltzLauren, Shearer/Getty

Tony Curtis Was Buried With His iPhone and Seven Packets of Splenda

3rd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From New York Magazine by Jessica Pressler

Yesterday, a funeral for the actor Tony Curtis was held in Las Vegas. His widow, Jill Vandenberg, insisted her husband be buried in his favorite outfit — white shorts, his favorite white sweater, and an Armani scarf — and lovingly placed a number of items into his casket to accompany him on his journey to the afterlife.

Including, according to the Las Vegas Sun:

• His Stetson hat
• A traveling bag packed full of favorite photos and letters
• A model of his 25th-anniversary Trans Am
• Driving gloves
• Some cash
• Gold coins
• His Navy medals
• A pair of his grandson Nicholas's baby shoes
• Two of his favorite watches
• A yarmulke from a synagogue in Budapest he helped renovate
• Stones he had collected during his travels
• A DVD of clips from his favorite film
• Sunglasses
• Seven packets of Splenda
• A single Percocet tablet
• His sleeping-eye blinders
• Ashes from his dog Jack
• Paintbrushes, paints, and a sketchbook
• His "IV," which is what he called his iPhone, according to the paper

Wait, he still has his iPhone! Does that mean it is possible to call Tony Curtis, even though he is dead? Oh no, never mind. He was buried this morning, so the battery is probably already dead, as well.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

JACKASS 3D

3rd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From NY Press by Armond White

In 2002, the New York Film Critics Circle came close to naming Jackass the year’s Best Non-Fiction Film until more traditional-minded members (after some audible grumbling) pushed the vote to the since-forgotten Standing in the Shadows of Motown. (Some might call that a cop-out.) Now, Jackass 3D continues the prankster series that began on MTV and, at last, has picked up a kind of honor: Jackass 3D held its premiere at the Museum of Modern Art.

Clearly, notions of respectability have changed since ’02, but so has the mainstream’s understanding of the Jackass phenomenon’s significance. Curator Josh Siegel put Jackass 3D in the same tradition being celebrated in MoMA’s series “More Cruel and Unusual Comedy: Social Commentary in the American Slapstick Film,” which showcases movies from the silent era that dared to crack the funny bone before tickling the mind. The Jackass crew—Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Chris Pontius, Wee Man and Steve O— perform Three Stooges-style slapstick with mischievous disregard for propriety and safety. Turning their bodies into pincushions, punching bags, toilets and vomit projectors, they publicize redneck recklessness as a form of foolish All- American freedom.


Zach Galifianakis Interviews Bruce Willis on BETWEEN TWO FERNS

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From H

"Between Two Ferns," the web talk-show where Zach Galifianakis sits down big-name celebrities for an interview as insulting as it is entertaining. He's already hosted Conan O'Brien, Ben Stiller, and Charlize Theron, among others, and this week he has none other than funny man Steve Carell. The boys get off to a good start (by "Between Two Ferns" standards) when Carell tells Zach that the camera adds 10 pounds, "and it looks like you ate 5 cameras." Carell is obviously on to Zach's typical interview style. Despite Zach promising he'll do a straight interview, the two bicker back and forth until some tears are shed, a chair is broken, and you've undoubtedly had a lot of laughs.

Chalky White's Interrogation on HBO 's BOARDWALK EMPIRE

2nd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From HBO

Chalky White, played by Michael Kenneth Williams, decides to take matters into his own hands when a Klansman is brought in for questioning on HBO's Boardwalk Empire.

Episode 4

Maira Kalman's AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

3rd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Booklist

*Starred Review* First published as an illustrated, 12-part blog in the New York Times, artist-author Kalman’s wonderfully idiosyncratic meditation on democracy is now available in a single volume. Despite its original episodic publication, the book coheres beautifully in terms of both artistic unity and the careful evolution of its overarching theme. Each chapter—beginning with the January inauguration of Barack Obama, an event that was the catalyst for the book—represents a month of Kalman’s yearlong quest, which included visits to both coasts. Thus, the month of February is devoted to her loving celebration of Abraham Lincoln; March to “the essence of democracy, the town meeting”; and so on to December, which concerns George Washington and, finally, a tender and loving evocation of happiness itself. Kalman’s art and its wonderful interaction with her hand-lettered text is every bit as idiosyncratic as her approach to her subject, and the result is an achievement that evokes her widely praised picture books for children. Sprinkled among her art—as always, evocative of Matisse—are photographs, whose realism offers a nice counterpoint to her more stylized drawings. Whether you think of this book as a graphic novel, a picture book, or an album, it is sure to leave you feeling happy—about democracy and humanity. --Michael Cart

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

GATZ The Public Theater's Attic

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From The Public Theater

One morning in the low-rent office of a mysterious small business, an employee finds a copy of The Great Gatsby in the clutter of his desk. He starts to read it out loud, and doesn’t stop. At first his coworkers hardly notice. But after a series of strange coincidences, it’s no longer clear whether he’s reading the book or the book is transforming him.

“One of the most exciting and improbable accomplishments in theater in recent years” (The New York Times), GATZ is a theatrical and literary tour de force, not a retelling of the Gatsby story but an enactment of the novel itself. Over the course of 6 1/2 hours, Fitzgerald’s American masterpiece is delivered word for word, startlingly brought to life by a low-rent office staff in the midst of their inscrutable business operations. The cast of 13 actors includes Scott Shepherd (The Wooster Group’s Hamlet).

GATZ will be presented as a marathon theatrical event, with two intermissions and a dinner break, four times per week.

While this production is currently sold out, Partners of The Public Theater receive complimentary House Seats to GATZ, along with productions throughout our 55th anniversary season. For more information about supporting The Public with a tax-deductible gift, click here or call 212-539-8734.


Pat Sajak Questions Voting for Public Employees

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Gawker

Syndicated hairpiece Pat Sajak, host of television's beloved Wheel of Fortune, is the most brilliant American conservative. And he has a novel idea to share: Should public employees really be allowed to vote?

No but seriously. He thinks it's a conflict of interest, or at least, uh, should be a conflict of interest! Public employees might "benefit directly" if their choice wins. I

"None of my family and friends is allowed to appear on Wheel of Fortune. Same goes for my kids' teachers or the guys who rotate my tires. If there's not a real conflict of interest, there is, at least, the appearance of one. On another level, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has recused herself from nearly half the cases this session due to her time as solicitor general. In nearly all private and public endeavors, there are occasions in which it's only fair and correct that a person or group be barred from participating because that party could directly and unevenly benefit from decisions made and policies adopted. So should state workers be able to vote in state elections on matters that would benefit them directly? The same question goes for federal workers in federal elections."

"I'm not suggesting that public employees should be denied the right to vote, but that there are certain cases in which their stake in the matter may be too great."

"Of course we all have a stake in one way or another in most elections, and many of us tend to vote in favor of our own interests. However, if, for example, a ballot initiative appears that might cap the benefits of a certain group of state workers, should those workers be able to vote on the matter?"

Stella McCartney Spring 2011 Ready-To-Wear

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Style

Stella McCartney set out to solve in a collection that played to her strengths. Her answer—box pleats in back, a pair of slits up the front of each leg—was simple enough, but the results were very sexy in her signature breezy way. A silk dress in a vibrant citrus print (first bananas at Prada, now lemons and grapefruit at McCartney) was also slashed at the waist and back, and it had an easy chic that could make it the one thing in your closet you turn to again and again. It just might be the dress of the summer.

In contrast, a denim section of tunics and shorts in boxy shapes looked somewhat clunky. But as ever, McCartney had a lot of strong tailoring, slightly softened this season in a palette of faded pastels like rose, pistachio, and light blue. The other thing that made her suits look new was the cut of the pants. High-waisted, cropped, cuffed, and with a hint of a flare, they stood out in a month full of floor-scraping trousers.

Monday, October 18, 2010

Condoleezza Rice’s Memoir “Extraordinary, Ordinary People”

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From The New York Times by DWIGHT GARNER

Condoleezza Rice’s memoir, “Extraordinary, Ordinary People,” ends where most readers would probably rather it began: with the 2000 election, the recount in Florida and the Supreme Court ruling that put George W. Bush in the White House.

There’s nothing about the toxic events on the near horizon — 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the rippling policy misadventures that reverberated from each — events in which the author played crucial and controversial roles. That’s all for later and perhaps more invigorating books. (Ms. Rice is scheduled to deliver a policy memoir in 2012.)

“Extraordinary, Ordinary People” is instead an origins story, a minor-key memoir mostly about Ms. Rice’s upbringing in Birmingham, Ala., during the early years of the civil rights movement. Her parents, both teachers, were striving and selfless members of that city’s black bourgeoisie. They sacrificed nearly everything so that their talented only child could become a sleek, heat-seeking, success-driven missile.

Condoleezza Rice


Al Qaeda Has a Magazine

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix


"Inspire" includes a "message to the people of Yemen" directly transcribed from Ayman Al-Zawahari, Al Qaeda's second in command, a message from Osama Bin Laden on "how to save the earth," and the cover includes a quotation from Anwar Al-Awlaki, the American born cleric who is believed to be directly connected to the attempt to destroy an airplane over Detroit by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Christmas Day.

The table of contents teases an interview with the leader of AQAP who promises to "answer various questions pertaining to the jihad in the Arabian Peninsula." It includes a feature about how to "make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom."

A U.S. official said early this morning that the magazine appears to be authentic.

You can view two more images from the magazine here:


Thursday, October 14, 2010

Justin Timberlake Doesn't Know When He'll Make Music Again

4th\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From EW

In a frank interview, Timberlake talks about coping with the pressures of the music industry and his choice to focus on his movie career for the time being:

EW: Are there people you work with who are telling you that you should put another record out sooner rather than later?

Timberlake: …Does a painter make a painting because he has to make it by December 21st? No, he doesn’t. It happens when it pours out of him. That’s how music is for me….

EW: Do you think it’s dangerous to wait so long? Christina Aguilera waited four years between albums, and her fans don’t seem to care about her right now.

Timberlake: If you’re asking me, no. I never stop making music. I don’t know what else to tell you, except that I just don’t know [in] what capacity I want to be involved anymore.

EW: That sounds very final.

Timberlake: No. All I’m saying is, in very simple terms, I’ll know when I know. And until I know, I don’t know.


Leopard Print at Fashion Week In New York, London, Milan And Paris

4th\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From New York Magazine

Givenchy's Spring 2011 collection was soaked in leopard print. Many top editors running around to the shows look like they've taken a bath in the stuff, too. Carine Roitfeld wore brand-spanking-new leopard Givenchy to French Vogue's big 90th anniversary ball. She also wore leopard to the Chloe show, where Anna Dello Russo and Virginie Mouzat also wore the animal spots. The Times's Eric Wilson reports H&M's windows in Paris are likewise covered in the print...it already feels like leopard clothes are everywhere. Lanvin did a bunch of leopard for pre-fall 2010. And you can buy all manner of designer leopard items on Net-a-Porter by labels like Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Miu Miu, and Tory Burch right now.

Photo: Maxtree, Pascal Le Segretain /Getty Images, Imaxtree
Looks from Givenchy, and Carine Roitfeld.

Hunter S. Thompson's Application to VANCOUVER SUN

3rd\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix


To Jack Scott, Vancouver Sun

October 1, 1958

57 Perry Street

New York City

Sir,

I got a hell of a kick reading the piece Time magazine did this week on The Sun. In addition to wishing you the best of luck, I’d also like to offer my services.

Since I haven’t seen a copy of the “new” Sun yet, I’ll have to make this a tentative offer. I stepped into a dung-hole the last time I took a job with a paper I didn’t know anything about (see enclosed clippings) and I’m not quite ready to go charging up another blind alley. By the time you get this letter, I’ll have gotten hold of some of the recent issues of The Sun. Unless it looks totally worthless, I’ll let my offer stand.

And don’t think that my arrogance is unintentional: it’s just that I’d rather offend you now than after I started working for you. I didn’t make myself clear to the last man I worked for until after I took the job. It was as if the Marquis de Sade had suddenly found himself working for Billy Graham. The man despised me, of course, and I had nothing but contempt for him and everything he stood for. If you asked him, he’d tell you that I’m “not very likable, (that I) hate people, (that I) just want to be left alone, and (that I) feel too superior to mingle with the average person.” (That’s a direct quote from a memo he sent to the publisher.) Nothing beats having good references.

Of course if you asked some of the other people I’ve worked for, you’d get a different set of answers. If you’re interested enough to answer this letter, I’ll be glad to furnish you with a list of references — including the lad I work for now.

The enclosed clippings should give you a rough idea of who I am. It’s a year old, however, and I’ve changed a bit since it was written. I’ve taken some writing courses from Columbia in my spare time, learned a hell of a lot about the newspaper business, and developed a healthy contempt for journalism as a profession. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic and vital as journalism should be overrun with dullards, bums, and hacks, hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, and complacence, and generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity. If this is what you’re trying to get The Sun away from, then I think I’d like to work for you.

Most of my experience has been in sports writing, but I can write everything from warmongering propaganda to learned book reviews. I can work 25 hours a day if necessary, live on any reasonable salary, and don’t give a black damn for job security, office politics, or adverse public relations. I would rather be on the dole than work for a paper I was ashamed of.

It’s a long way from here to British Columbia, but I think I’d enjoy the trip. If you think you can use me, drop me a line. If not, good luck anyway.

Sincerely,

Hunter S. Thompson




SKIPPY DIES by Paul Murray

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From Amazon

Amazon Best Books of the Month, September 2010: "Seabrook College is an all-boys Catholic prep school in contemporary Dublin, where the founding Fathers flounder under a new administration obsessed with the school's "brand" and teachers vacillate between fear and apathy when faced with rooms full of texting, hyper-tense, hormone-fueled boys. It's the boys--and one boy in particular--that give this raucous, tender novel its emotional kick. Daniel "Skippy" Juster is a breed apart from his friends, more sensitive than any of them, but never visibly reactive to the pressures that weigh heavily on him. The events that lead to his untimely (though tragicomic) death unfold scene by scene, in a chorus of perfectly executed moments that are powerful enough to make you laugh and weep at once. When you read Skippy Dies, you won't necessarily feel like a teenager again--and in fact, may realize you'd never want to--but you'll certainly appreciate how painful, exhilarating, and confusing it still is to grow up."
--Anne Bartholomew

THE LITTLE FOXES at The New York Theater Workshop

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From NYTW

Acclaimed director Ivo van Hove returns to NYTW to take on one of Lillian Hellman’s most well-known plays, The Little Foxes. Van Hove’s fresh vision of this iconic play will be a study of how women of different races and classes contend with male aggression, power, and domination. Elizabeth Marvel, who has memorably collaborated with van Hove at NYTW, playing the title role of Hedda Gabler and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, will take on the role of Regina Giddens, the strong and determined woman at the center of Hellman’s web of deceit.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Darwyn Cooke's Grafic-Novel Adaptation of Richard Stark's "THE OUTFIT"

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From Amazon

Review

Darwyn Cooke pulled off the perfect crime last year with The Hunter, his graphic-novel adaptation of the 1962 novel of the same name by the late, great Donald E. Westlake (an author who, just like his heist men, decided it was best to use an alias and wrote under the name Richard Stark). The Hunter earned Cooke an Eisner Award and a Harvey for best cartoonist, and, this week, the Nova Scotia artist becomes a true repeat offender as IDW Publishing delivers Cooke's second hardcover Westlake adaptation, The Outfit, which follows the bloodied path of Parker, a career criminal with a penitentiary stare and brass-knuckles heart. 
--Geoff Boucher -- Hero Complex/Los Angeles Times
 
Product Description
 
After he evens the score with those who betrayed him and recovers the money he was cheated out of from the syndicate, Parker is riding high, living in swank hotels and enjoying the finer things in life again. Until, that is, he's fingered by a squealer who rats him out to The Outfit for the price they put on his head... and they find out too late that if you push Parker, it better be all the way into the grave! 
 
 
 

Neal Boulton's Site HERION LIFE

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From Heroinlife

HeroinLife was founded for two reasons: "One, I wanted to; and two, I had to."

"I've been lucky—fucking insane and 100% unreal, fantasical, unbelievable luck—to have made it out alive. I was 43 when I launched HeroinLife, and out of those 43 years about half of them have been dedicated to publishing magazines, working on newspapers, teaching at a journalism school (they didn't ask me back), and creating online magazines.

On my last run, I passed out on the main street of my tiny neighborhood, but opened my eyes just in time to see the cops slapping handcuffs on me as they were dragging me into the back of an ambulance. Eventually I got out of lockup, and of course I used—then found myself lying in an emergency room with all the usual IVs and tubes and chaotic sounds thrashing around me when it hit me: I'm done. Completely shocking the doctor and nurses and attendants, I ripped the IV out of my arm, I ditched the tubes around my nose and the sticky heart monitor shit glued to my chest—and left the ER, and the hospital.

I was clear, "There would be no seventh rehab, or umpteenth detox." Despite how sure I was, I was still a mess, but I hailed a NYC cab anyway and ached in the backseat during the usual harrowing ride, in this case, home.

Two weeks later, I was speaking, and moving, and no longer moaning and freezing from a wretched withdrawal. I couldn't count the number of times I had cheated with heroin while telling folks I was "sober," letting them think that drinking had been my problem. It was, but nothing like junk. I couldn't count the number of times I had drifted from the idea of recovery and then, like clockwork, began to use—and use hard. Over time, I got clean, with no cheats and no lies and no insane scrape-the-chalkboard desperate aches for H.

Then something else hit me: I really did live. And, it would be great to help others make it out like I did. So, since I am only good at certain things, I turned to what I am best at: making magazines. That's when I thought I'd create HeroinLife. A few months later we turned on the lights and kicked on the engine for this journey. For me HeroinLife is I help you, I help me; even though, the truth is,  want to help you—more."

-Neal Boulton

Edith Wharton Erotica c. 1919 / Paris

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Excerpt from LAPHAM'S QUARTERLY

“I have been, you see,” he added gently, “so perfectly patient—”

The room was warm and softly lit by one or two pink-shaded lamps. A little fire sparkled on the hearth, and a lustrous black bearskin rug on which a few purple velvet cushions had been flung was spread out before it.

“And now, darling,” Mr. Palmato said, drawing her to the deep divan, “let me show you what only you and I have the right to show each other.” He caught her wrists as he spoke, and looking straight into her eyes, repeated in a penetrating whisper, “Only you and I.” But his touch had never been tenderer. Already she felt every fiber vibrating under it, as of old, only now with the more passionate eagerness bred of privation and of the dull misery of her marriage. She let herself sink backward among the pillows, and already Mr. Palmato was on his knees at her side, his face close to hers. Again her burning lips were parted by his tongue, and she felt it insinuate itself between her teeth and plunge into the depths of her mouth in a long, searching caress, while at the same moment his hands softly parted the thin folds of her wrapper.

One by one they gained her bosom, and she felt her two breasts pointing up to them, the nipples hard as coral, but sensitive as lips to his approaching touch. And now his warm palms were holding each breast as if in a cup, clasping it, modeling it, softly kneading it, as he whispered to her, “Like the bread of the angels.”

An instant more, and his tongue had left her fainting mouth and was twisting like a soft, pink snake about each breast in turn, passing from one to the other till his lips closed hard on the nipples, sucking them with a tender gluttony.

Then suddenly he drew back her wrapper entirely, whispered, “I want you all, so that my eyes can see all that my lips can’t cover,” and in a moment she was free, lying before him in her fresh young nakedness, and feeling that indeed his eyes were covering it with fiery kisses. But Mr. Palmato was never idle, and while this sensation flashed through her, one of his arms had slipped under her back and wound itself around her so that his hand again enclosed her left breast. At the same moment the other hand softly separated her legs and began to slip up the old path it had so often traveled in darkness. But now it was light, she was uncovered; and looking downward beyond his dark, silver-sprinkled head, she could see her own parted knees and outstretched ankles and feet. Suddenly she remembered Austin’s rough advances and shuddered.

The mounting hand paused, the dark head was instantly raised. “What is it, my own?”

“I was—remembering—last week—” she faltered, below her breath.

“Yes, darling. That experience was a cruel one—but it has to come once in all women’s lives. Now we shall reap its fruit.”

But she hardly heard him, for the old swooning sweetness was creeping over her. As his hand stole higher, she felt the secret bud of her body swelling, yearning, quivering hotly to burst into bloom. Ah, here was his subtle forefinger pressing it, forcing its tight petals softly apart, and laying on their sensitive edges a circular touch so soft and yet so fiery that already lightnings of heat shot from that palpitating center all over her surrendered body, to the tips of her fingers and the ends of her loosened hair.

The sensation was so exquisite that she could have asked to have it indefinitely prolonged; but suddenly his head bent lower, and with a deeper thrill she felt his lips pressed upon that quivering, invisible bud, and then the delicate, firm thrust of his tongue, so full and yet so infinitely subtle, pressing apart those closed petals, and forcing itself in deeper and deeper through the passage that glowed and seemed to become illuminated at its approach….

“Ah—” she gasped, pressing her hands against her sharp nipples and flinging her legs apart. Instantly, one of her hands was caught, and while Mr. Palmato—rising, bent over her, his lips on hers again—she felt his firm fingers pressing into her hand that strong, fiery muscle that they used, in their old joke, to call his third hand.

“My little girl,” he breathed, sinking down beside her, his muscular trunk bare, and the third hand quivering and thrusting upward between them, a drop of moisture pearling at its tip.

She instantly understood the reminder that his words conveyed. Letting herself downward along the divan till her head was in line with his middle, she flung herself upon the swelling member and began to caress it insinuatingly with her tongue. It was the first time she had ever seen it actually exposed to her eyes, and her heart swelled excitedly: to have her touch confirmed by sight enriched the sensation that was communicating itself through her ardent, twisting tongue. With panting breath she wound her caress deeper and deeper into the firm, thick folds, till at length the member, thrusting her lips open, held her gasping, as if at its mercy; then, in a trice, it was withdrawn, her knees were pressed apart, and she saw it before her, above her, like a crimson flash, and at last, sinking backward into new abysses of bliss, felt it descend on her, press open the secret gates, and plunge into the deepest depths of her thirsting body….

“Was it… like this… last week?” he whispered.

Kansas Mutual Fund Caused "Flash Crash"

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From The New York Times by By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ

Futures trades by Waddell & Reed, a conservative 70-year-old mutual fund based in Overland Park, Kan., have been linked to the plunge, during which the Dow dropped hundreds of points in a matter of minutes.

The company was identified in a Chicago Mercantile Exchange document, according to Reuters. In a statement, Waddell & Reed said it was among the firms that traded the stock index futures contract suspected of being a crucial link in the cascade of events leading up to the plunge

“On May 6, as on many trading days, Waddell & Reed executed several trading strategies, including index futures contracts, as part of the normal operation of our flexible portfolio funds,” the firm said. “Like many market participants, Waddell & Reed was affected negatively by the market activity of May 6.”

[However,] while confirming trading activity that day, Waddell & Reed insisted it was not responsible for setting off the market break or doing anything out of the ordinary. Waddell & Reed said it was among 250 firms that traded the e-mini during the critical minutes.


Monday, October 11, 2010

“The Last Newspaper” Exhibit @ The New Museum

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From The New Museum

The New Museum will present “The Last Newspaper,” a major exhibition inspired by the ways artists approach the news and respond to the stories and images that command the headlines. The exhibition will animate the Museum with signature artworks and a constant flow of information-gathering and processing undertaken by organizations and artist groups that have been invited to inhabit offices within the museum’s galleries. Partner organizations will use on-site offices to present their research, engage in rapid prototyping, and stage public dialogues, opening up the galleries as spaces of intellectual production as well as display. For visitors, “The Last Newspaper” will be a unique site of dialogue, participation, and critical thinking, posing new possibilities for a contemporary art museum experience. The exhibition is co-curated by Richard Flood, Chief Curator of the New Museum, and Benjamin Godsill, Curatorial Associate.

Kirsten Luce for The New York Times
Thomas Hirschhorn's mannequins in gowns made of news photographs.


U.S. Government Gave Guatemalans Gonorrhea

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From ABC News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States apologized on Friday for an experiment conducted in the 1940s in which U.S. government researchers deliberately infected Guatemalan prison inmates, women and mental patients with syphilis.

In the experiment, aimed at testing the then-new drug penicillin, inmates were infected by prostitutes and later treated with the antibiotic.

"The sexually transmitted disease inoculation study conducted from 1946-1948 in Guatemala was clearly unethical," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.


James Fletcher Stole Jonathan Franzen 's Glasses Off His Face

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From The Week

Author Jonathan Franzen was minding his own business at the London launch for his bestselling novel "Freedom," when someone snatched the glasses off his face and ran, leaving a note demanding $100,000 for their return. Police found the suspect hiding in a bush, but released him after Franzen declined to press charges for what his representative called a "harmless prank." The alleged culprit, a 27-year-old graduate student named James Fletcher, says in British GQ that he just did it because he was bored, and drunk.


Jonathan Franzen

James Fletcher

Joe Biden And Hillary Clinton May Switch Jobs In 2012

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From CNN by Alexander Mooney

Some called a Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton pairing the "Dream Ticket" in 2008. It didn't happen. But what about 2012?

"It's on the table," veteran Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward told CNN's John King in an interview Tuesday on John King, USA. "Some of Hillary Clinton's advisers see it as a real possibility in 2012."

The scenario – whereby Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would switch positions - has been bandied about by political observers for months, seen by some as a potentially savvy strategy to gin up excitement among what appears to be a depressed Democratic base. But it's never been clear if the idea has been actually discussed in the White House, until now.

"President Obama needs some of the women, Latinos, retirees that she did so well with during the [2008] primaries and, so they switch jobs, not out of the question, and the other interesting question is, Hillary Clinton could run in her own right in 2016 and be younger than Ronald Reagan when he was elected president."


Thursday, October 7, 2010

"Stiller & Meara" Episode 1

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Studio 360's Program on the Influence of THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X

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When Malcolm X was assassinated at 39, his book nearly died with him. Today The Autobiography of Malcolm X — a favorite of President Obama and Justice Clarence Thomas alike — stands as a milestone in America’s struggle with race. The Autobiography is also a Horatio Alger tale, following a man’s journey from poverty to crime to militancy to wisdom. Muslims look to Malcolm as a figure of tolerance; a tea party activist claims him for the Right; Public Enemy’s Chuck D tells us, “This book is like food. It ain’t McDonalds — it’s sit down at the table and say grace.”

The Autobiography of Malcolm X was produced by Derek John and Lu Olkowski and edited by David Krasnow. The actor Dion Graham read passages from the book.



THE PITMEN PAINTERS Comes To Broadway

3rd\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Manhattan Theatre Club

From the writer of Billy Elliot comes the true story of five miners who unearthed a new passion…and astounded the world.

Direct from a sold-out engagement at London’s National Theatre, this fascinating new play by Tony Award winner Lee Hall (writer of Broadway’s mega-hit Billy Elliot) comes to Broadway with its entire original London cast intact.

The Pitmen Painters is based on the triumphant true story of a group of British miners who discover a new way to express themselves and unexpectedly become art-world sensations! An arresting and witty salute to the power of individual expression and the collective spirit, The Pitmen Painters takes you on an unforgettable journey from the depths of the mine to the heights of fame.

The cast includes Christopher Connel, Michael Hodgson, Ian Kelly,
Brian Lonsdale, Lisa McGrillis, Deka Walmsley, David Whitaker and Phillippa Wilson.


Kanye West Loves Color

3rd\NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

The quote from Kanye West comes from an XXL article, which Amos Barshad of Vulture said that he,"... simply cannot recommend it enough."

"How many times have people taunted me because of a color that I had on or how tight my pants were? It's nothing. I'm at the point now where I can go to ABC Carpet and spend five hours picking out sheets, 'cause I love colors, like teal and taupe and salmon ... When I visited Wayne at Rikers Island, I had a suit on with some slippers, and the guard said, 'Man, those shoes are amazing.' And I said, 'Yes, they are. I'm Kanye West.'" - Kanye West