Rambo Punching Man's Head Off (Warning: Very violent!)
Apatovian Comedy Factory
Jessica posted on Jessica Rules the Universe, "I declared the Apatovian series consisting of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Superbad The Godfather trilogy of our time, only instead of whacking each other the guys just whack off." According to David Denby of The New Yorker, Apatovian is "a mixture of desperately filthy talk and the most tender, even delicate, emotion."
"Icky Thump"
"Icky Thump" is a song recorded by The White Stripes. Written by band member Jack White, it is the first single released from the White Stripes' sixth album of the same name. The name of the track comes from the Northern England exclamation "Ecky Thump," roughly meaning "what the heck?" The title was then changed to "Icky" so that "teenagers would understand it better back in America," in the same way Led Zeppelin took out the "a" so kids wouldn't call them 'Lead Zeppelin' (pronounced 'leed')" (Wikipedia)
"The Landlord"
David O. Russell Meltdown
David Owen Russell (born 20 August 1958 in New York) is an American film director and screenwriter. He directed and wrote "Three Kings" and the existential comedy "I ♥ Huckabees." Earlier films include independent films "Flirting with Disaster" and "Spanking the Monkey." (Wikipedia)
Jim and Pam Together
Suzanne McDonough wrote on Prime Time Sitcoms, "Interest in the US TV show "The Office" has grown as a result of its characters' Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinski) inability to get together. At the end of the third season, the long, angsty love story between Pam and Jim seems to have all of the stars aligned for the two to finally end up together. At the very least they are actually going to go on a date. Will viewing audiences tune in if they manage to get together? But will this kill the hit show?"
Applewood smoked bacon + Alder smoked salt + deep milk chocolate Deep milk chocolate coats your mouth and leads to the crunch of smoked bacon pieces. Surprise your mouth with the smoked salt and sweet milk chocolate.
Crisp, buttery, compulsively irresistible bacon and milk chocolate combination has long been a favorite of mine. I started playing with this combination at the tender age of six while eating chocolate chip pancakes drenched in maple syrup. Beside my chocolate-laden cakes laid three strips of fried bacon, just barely touching a sweet pool of maple syrup. Just a bite of the bacon was too salty and yearned for the sweet kiss of chocolate syrup. In retrospect, perhaps this was a turning point, for on that plate something magical happened: the beginnings of a combination so ethereal and delicious that it would haunt my thoughts until I found the medium to express it--chocolate. --Katrina (Vosges Chocolate)
It's taking me a year to complete The Year-End Mega Matrix! It looks like I won't be done until the weekend, so come back over the weekend for the complete 3rd and 4th quadrants.
View of "Pump Room", a work by the Hungarian artist Balázs Kicsiny at the Venice Biennale in 2005.
The Venice Biennale (Italian: Biennale di Venezia) is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years (in odd years) in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it, as is the Venice Architecture Biennale, which is held in even years. A dance section, the "International Festival of Contemporary Dance", was established in 1999. (Wikipedia)
from documenta 6
documenta is seen as the world‘s most important exhibition of modern and contemporary art which now takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. It was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultural Show) which took place in Kassel at that time. This first documenta was - in contrast to most expectations - a considerable success as it featured most of the artists who are generally considered to have had a significant influence on modern art, e.g. Picasso or Kandinsky. The more recent documentas feature art from all continents; nonetheless most of it is site-specific. (Wikipedia)
Skulptur Blickst du hinauf und liest die Worte von Ilya Kabakow (1997)
The Skulptur.Projekte is an international sculpture exhibition in Münster, Westphalia, which since 1977 has taken place every ten years, each parallel to the Documenta in Kassel. The artists are invited to Münster, in a self-selected location within the city to create a sculpture. Many of the works are in accordance with the 100-day exhibition period from the city, have been bought by companies or have become a permanent part of the city image. (Wikipedia\Google Translation)
Michael Chabon
Michael Chabon (born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation." His first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh (1988), was published when Chabon was 25 and catapulted him to the status of literary celebrity. He followed it with a second novel, Wonder Boys (1995), and two short-story collections. In 2000, Chabon published The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, a critically acclaimed novel that The New York Review of Books called his magnum opus; it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001.
His latest novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, was published in 2007 to enthusiastic reviews. His work is characterized by complex language, frequent use of metaphor, and an extensive vocabulary, along with numerous recurring themes, including nostalgia, divorce, abandonment, fatherhood, and issues of Jewish identity. He often includes gay, bisexual, and Jewish characters in his work. Since the late 1990s, Chabon has written in an increasingly diverse series of styles for varied outlets; he is a notable defender of the merits of genre fiction and plot-driven fiction, and, along with novels, he has published screenplays, children's books, comics, and newspaper serials. (Wikipedia)
"The Yiddish Policemen's Union" is an alternate history detective story based on the premise that after World War II, a temporary Yiddish-speaking settlement for Jewish refugees was established in Alaska in 1941. It also incorporates the (fictional) destruction of the State of Israel in 1948 after an unsuccessful struggle for independence. It takes place in a fictionalized version of the real city of Sitka. (Wikipedia)
Cute Polar Bear
Knut was born on Dec. 5, 2006, the first polar bear cub to be born in Berlin Zoo in 30 years, but was rejected by his mother, the 20-year-old polar bear Tosca. His twin brother died four days after the birth. Little Knut spent the first 44 days of his life in an incubator. The dedicated Dörflein has slept in the zoo since the birth of the bear in order to provide round-the-clock care to the cub, and feeds Knut milk six times a day with a bottle. (Spiegel Online)
"Frost/Nixon"
"Frost/Nixon" is a play by the British screenwriter and dramatist Peter Morgan. Its subject is the series of televised interviews that Richard Nixon granted David Frost in 1977 and that ended with a tacit admission of guilt regarding his role in the Watergate scandal. The play premiered at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London in August 2006.
On March 31st, 2007, the play went into previews on Broadway. It officially opened as a limited engagement at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on April 22, 2007 and closed on August 19, 2007, after 137 performances. The original Broadway cast included: Frank Langella (Richard Nixon), [and] Michael Sheen (David Frost)...(Wikipedia) (Photo courtesy of Sara Krulwich/The New York Times)
"Planet Earth" on Discovery Channel
Planet Earth is an Emmy award winning BBC nature documentary series narrated by David Attenborough and produced by Alastair Fothergill. It was first transmitted in the UK from 5 March 2006. The American version is narrated by Sigourney Weaver.
The series was co-produced with Discovery Channel and the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) in association with the CBC, and was described by its makers as "the definitive look at the diversity of our planet". It was also the first of its kind to be filmed almost entirely in high-definition format.[1] The series was nominated for the Pioneer Audience Award for Best Programme at the 2007 BAFTA TV awards. (Wikipedia)
TRAILER
Bobby Cannavale in "Mauritius"
Bobby Cannavale (Dennis) made his Broadway debut in "Mauritius" at the Manhattan Theatre Club. The performances ended on 11/25/07.
Plot Summary: Jackie and Mary are half-sisters whose mother's death leaves them in possession of a rare stamp collection. But which sister actually owns the stamps? Which of three dealers can be trusted with their sale? And where do we choose to live: the present or the past? Tightly woven and ever-surprising, this sinister tale marks Ms. Rebeck's first collaboration with MTC, as well as her Broadway debut.
Roberto Cannavale (born May 3, 1971, Union City, New Jersey) is an Emmy Award-winning American actor. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor - Comedy Series in 2005 for "Will & Grace." One of his most famous roles was as a paramedic on the hit show, "Third Watch."
The Wimbledon Final
Roger Federer def. Rafael Nadal 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-2
Roger Federer won his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title, equalling the modern-era record set by Björn Borg, after a five-set battle that took close to four hours against Rafael Nadal, 3 sets to 2. Federer’s supremacy on grass met a strong challenge from Nadal and the victory did not come easily for the Swiss. But Federer came through by winning the tiebreak in the first and third sets, and faced four break points before victory in the final set. It was the first time that Federer has been pushed to five sets in the final of a Grand Slam. (Wikipedia)
The last 9 minutes of the final.
"Rescue Dawn"
Rescue Dawn is a 2007 movie starring Christian Bale and Steve Zahn. It is written and directed by Werner Herzog, based on the director's acclaimed 1997 documentary, Little Dieter Needs to Fly. NBA all-star Elton Brand is the film's producer through his production company Gibraltar Entertainment, which he co-owns with partner Steve Marlton.
The film is based on the true story of German-born Dieter Dengler, who dreamed of being a pilot and eventually made his way to the United States, where he joined the Navy during the Vietnam War era. He became a pilot and was shot down over Laos and captured. Eventually he organized an escape with a small band of captives. (Wikipedia)
TRAILER
"No Country for Old Men"
Plot Outline: Violence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon some dead bodies, a stash of heroin and more than $2 million in cash near the Rio Grande. (IMDB)
Rex Reed writes in his review of the film for the Observer, "In a terrifying performance of hypnotic power, Bardem totes around an air gun for slaughtering cattle, which he uses with ingenuous lust; it’s a strange apparatus that looks like an oxygen tank, with a device on the head of the hose that glows key holes out of door locks and foreheads."
"Losing their customary cool, some critics are labeling No Country for Old Men, a modern western with pokey pacing and blood-curdling violence, a masterpiece. Until the five-minute finale that threatens to destroy the whole thing, I found myself dazed, dazzled and overwhelmed. The ending is so lame it made me feverish. Then I remembered the perfection that came before it, and concluded that this is, without question, the best movie ever made by the eccentric Coen brothers, Joel and Ethan. Better even than Fargo. It’s so good that I am powerless to hold a grudge. Yes, I guess I have to admit it’s a masterpiece."
TRAILER
Sir Ian McKellen's Junk
Logan Hill wrote on NY Mag: Ian McKellen is proud of his junk and sensitive to those who might criticize it. A few years ago, during an interview about another McKellen project, he asked us about his "old friend" John Simon, our former, exacting theater critic. Like many actors, he was still nursing a grudge regarding a negative review. In this case, though, he claims the negative review was of his junk. For what it's worth, a long search through the magazine's archives — and John Simon's collected theater reviews — failed to bring up much more than a reference to McKellen's performance in 1984's Wild Honey: "McKellen mugs, struts, fidgets, prances, erupts, and shrivels expertly" (emphasis ours). Surely this can't be what McKellen was so upset about, can it?
In his Bloomberg News review of King Lear, Simon gives McKellen a B+ for his performance ("better than I expected but less than I would wish for") but takes another jab at McKellen's manhood, so to speak:
As for Lear (and this, surely, is more McKellen than Nunn), although he is supposed to be "every inch a king,'' he gives us several inches of frontal nudity that neither Shakespeare nor we bargained for, though they may work as a form of self-advertisement.
"Then We Came to the End"
In this wildly funny debut from former ad man Ferris, a group of copywriters and designers at a Chicago ad agency face layoffs at the end of the '90s boom. Indignation rises over the rightful owner of a particularly coveted chair ("We felt deceived"). Gonzo e-mailer Tom Mota quotes Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the midst of his tirades, desperately trying to retain a shred of integrity at a job that requires a ruthless attention to what will make people buy things. Jealousy toward the aloof and "inscrutable" middle manager Joe Pope spins out of control. Copywriter Chris Yop secretly returns to the office after he's laid off to prove his worth. Rumors that supervisor Lynn Mason has breast cancer inspire blood lust, remorse, compassion. Ferris has the downward-spiraling office down cold, and his use of the narrative "we" brilliantly conveys the collective fear, pettiness, idiocy and also humanity of high-level office drones as anxiety rises to a fever pitch. Only once does Ferris shift from the first person plural (for an extended fugue on Lynn's realization that she may be ill), and the perspective feels natural throughout. At once delightfully freakish and entirely credible, Ferris's cast makes a real impression. (Publisher's Weekly)
Jim Shepard said, "Then We Came to the End is the Catch-22 of the business world: it's a hilarious and heartbreaking and surreal portrait of the modern American corporation as a carnival - preschool? - of infantile misbehavior and breathtakingly futile and petty and despairing competiton. The real revelation here is how moving it all becomes: how much humanity and genuine emotional weight finally, against all odds, shines through." (Powells)
The Subway Superman
Kristin Chenoweth
A most untraditional sound came out of the speakers of The Metropolitan Opera Friday [January 19, 2007] night. Just as music director/conductor Andrew Lippa lifted his arms to cue the 11-piece orchestra to begin the evening's program he was interrupted by the rhythmic chords of an organ playing the type of energizing vamp more typical for a ballpark than an opera house. After a hearty "da-da-da-dat-da-da? charge!" the evening's soloist [Kristin Chenoweth] dashed out wearing a New York Mets jersey and cap, gleefully waving a pennant and asking if anyone knows where the hot dog stand is. (All About Opera)
“The Lives of Others”
Plot summary for “The Lives of Others” from IMDb: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's movie debut focuses on the horrifying, sometimes unintentionally funny system of observation in the former East Germany. In the early 1980s, the successful dramatist Georg Dreyman and his longtime companion Christa-Maria Sieland, a popular actress, are big intellectual stars in the socialist state, although they secretly don't always think loyal to the party line. One day, the Minister of Culture becomes interested in Christa, so the secret service agent Wiesler is instructed to observe and sound out the couple, but their life fascinates him more and more...
Dana Stevens of Slate says, “The Lives of Others is the best surveillance movie since The Conversation.”
“The Lives of Others” won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. TRAILER
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was a prolific and genre-bending American novelist known for works blending satire, black comedy, and science fiction, such as Slaughterhouse-Five (1969), Cat's Cradle (1963), and Breakfast of Champions (1973). (Wikipedia)
The Times reports that, "Mr. Vonnegut wrote plays, essays and short fiction. But it was his novels that became classics of the American counterculture, making him a literary idol, particularly to students in the 1960s and ’70s. Dog-eared paperback copies of his books could be found in the back pockets of blue jeans and in dorm rooms on campuses throughout the United States."
David Michalek’s “Slow Dancing”
Coolhunting has a post on David Michalek’s “Slow Dancing,” which was an outdoor installation on 40-foot screens that featured 43 dancers. The dancers performed a variety of genres that included ballet, break dancing, and Balinese dance among others. The dancers were asked to prepare three five-second phrases, were shot at 1000 frames per second and, “When played back in real time, the five-second movements equal about eight minutes, allowing the viewer to see every minute detail and move.” The show ran nightly from 9:00 PM - 1:00 AM, and ended on July 29, 2007.
Apple’s profile of Michalek mentions that he learned filmmaking at NYU, had an apprenticeship with fashion legend Herb Ritts, and his pictures have appeared in The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Vogue.
The full Times review can be read here, and includes a multimedia slide show.
Below is a link to a Times video of the installation. In Slow Motion
Youtube (low quality) Video of "Slow Dancing"
Junot Diaz
His fiction has appeared in The New Yorker magazine which listed him as one of the 20 top writers for the 21st century. He is best known for his two major works: the short story collection "Drown" (1996) and the novel "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" (2007). (Wikipedia)
"The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" has made it to the New York Times Best Sellers list (a first for a Dominican author), Miramax Films bought the screen rights and a translation into Spanish is already in the works.
The novel revolves about Oscar, an obese comics fan growing up in Paterson, N.J., and his dysfunctional Dominican family, going back to the Rafael Trujillo dictatorship. (BTAM)
President Bush, deferring to the tragedy at Virginia Tech, passed up any attempt to be funny at the White House Correspondents Association dinner Saturday, leaving those efforts to impersonator Rich Little.
Returning to the podium at the annual dinner after 23 years, Little made good on his promise to be gentle.
Little's material was safe if occasionally a little raunchy. He dusted off his impersonations of six presidents, from Nixon to the current occupant of the White House, and avoided any reference to current political issues.
After one joke bombed, he said, "And you thought (Stephen) Colbert was bad."
Best known for his impersonations of Richard Nixon and Johnny Carson, Rich was the featured act for the glitzy dinner with Bush, Cabinet secretaries, foreign dignitaries, Hollywood celebrities and members of the press. (Fox News)
Rich Little @ White House Dinner
"The Splasher"
...someone has been splashing paint over major streetart works all over the city. The "Splasher", as he's come to be known, has a taste for targeting major pieces by Swoon, Obey, Momo, and others. His trail of paint-dripped terror extends from Williamsburg, to Soho, and back again-- and he's already obliterated dozens of pieces.
Often, in the wake of his attacks, the Splasher also leaves wheat-pasted screeds, attacking the streetartists as tools of capital, calling their work a "fetishized action of banality" and "a representation of the most vulgar kind: an alienated commodity." (Gothamist)
"Margot at the Wedding"
Plot Summary: Margot [Nicole Kidman] and her son Claude decide to visit her sister Pauline after she announces that she is getting married to less-than-impressive Malcolm [Jack Black]. In short order, the storm the sisters create leaves behind a a mess of thrashed relationships and exposed family secrets. (IMBb)
Ethan Alter of the Film Journal Internationalwrote in his review, "Baumbach [directory] has pulled off the rather dubious accomplishment of making an incisive, involving film about a thoroughly detestable group of people."
Trailer for "Margot at the Wedding"
New York Airports
It’s not your imagination: Flying into or out of New York is the worst it’s ever been. In fact, our airports are the worst in the country. According to the FAA, Kennedy, La Guardia, and Newark hold the three bottom spots in the national on-time arrival competition. Newark has the most delayed landings, with only 57 percent of flights coming in on time. La Guardia is second to last, with 58 percent, and JFK is third worst, with 59 percent. Leaving is no picnic, either. JFK boasts the most sluggish takeoffs of the nation’s 32 major airports: Barely three out of five departing flights leave the so-called Gateway to the World on time. (Newark and La Guardia don’t fare much better on that front, ranking No. 30 and No. 25, respectively.) All in all, over one third of the nation’s delays happen in the New York metro area. The Port Authority estimates that our airports’ inefficiency will cost us $200 million this year in passengers’ lost time alone. (NY Mag\Michael Idov)
"Factory Girl"
Plot Summary: A beautiful, wealthy young party girl drops out of Radcliffe in 1965 and heads to New York to become Holly Golightly. When she meets a hungry young artist named Andy Warhol, he promises to make her the star she always wanted to be. And like a super nova she explodes on the New York scene only to find herself slowly lose grip on reality... (IMDb\ Written by Richard Galub)
Trailer for "Factory Girl"
Chumley's Closes
The historic Greenwich Village bar Chumley's will remain closed indefinitely. The Buildings Department says engineers are working to stabilize the building after an interior wall collapsed Thursday. The onetime speakeasy dating back to 1922 was a favorite among writers such as John Steinbeck and F. Scott Fitzgerald. (WNYC)
When the collapse occurred, construction workers were inside Chumley's and doing repairs of an unknown type without a permit. Violations for working with out a permit have been issued. Now, a shoring company has been hired to repair the damage, after which time inspectors will assess the integrity of the building. While the work is done Chumley's will be closed. (Eater) (Photo courtesy of Eater)
Nathan Zuckerman
Philip Roth's newest novel, Exit Ghost, is his ninth and final Nathan Zuckerman book. The series began in 1979 with The Ghost Writer; a compendium, Zuckerman Bound, is now available. Roth won a Pulitzer Prize in 1997 for American Pastoral; his 28 novels have won him numerous other awards, including the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Gold Medal for Fiction.
... Exit Ghost, is all about the gap between the writer's life experience and his art. It involves the characters who figured in Roth's 1979 novel, Ghost Writer. When Roth began writing about Nathan Zuckerman, the protagonist was 23 years old. The character is now 71. Roth, who is 74, tells Robert Siegel Exit Ghost is the last of the Zuckerman novels. (NPR)
Hamas Mickey Mouse
Pipe Explosion (Wow!)
iPhone Price Drop
Apple slashed the price on the 8GB iPhone to $399, which is $200 less than its introductory price, and is giving a $100 credit to early adopters. Early adopter Paul Forrester said on MacWorld in reference to the rebate, “Giving me $100 credit in the Apple store is kind of a yawn for me. I still have to go spend money in the store—it’s not a true rebate. They aren’t really giving me my money back.”
Philip Michaels also reported on MacWorld that Apple hopes that the price cut will spur sales of the mobile device it introduced in June. “We want to put iPhones in a lot of stockings this holiday season.” Apple CEO Steve Jobs said. (BTAM)
“Young Frankenstein”
“Young Frankenstein” is one of the biggest deals headed to Broadway so far in 2007-08. Top ticket prices will be $120, with some "premier" and "premium" seats priced at $450 and $375 per ticket. The New York Times reported that the $450 orchestra ticket price will apply to the 100 or so best seats in the house. At the time of the August 7 first preview in Seattle, the Broadway advance was already around $15 million. (BTAM)
Damien Hirst
The Damien Hirst Installation @ Lever House has 30 dead sheep, one dead shark, two sides of beef, 300 sausages, and a pair of doves. The installation will be on view through February 16, 2008 and was commissioned by the real estate developer Aby Rosen, who owns Lever House, the Seagram Building and the Gramercy Park Hotel, and by Alberto Mugrabi, a Manhattan dealer. (BTAM)
Damien Hirst's latest artwork is this life-size platinum skull encrusted with 8,601 fine diamonds. The sculpture, titled "For The Love of God," will likely sell for as much as $100 million, making it the priciest contemporary artwork ever made. White Cube gallery is selling several limited edition silkscreen prints of the work, priced from £900 to £10,000, for one sprinkled with diamond dust. The title of the piece comes from Hirst's mother who asked her son, “For the love of God, what are you going to do next?” (David Pescovitz\BoingBoing)
Luciano Pavarotti
The New York Times reported that Luciano Pavarotti, the Italian singer whose ringing, pristine sound set a standard for operatic tenors of the postwar era, died on Sept. 6, 2007. He was 71. The cause was pancreatic cancer. (BTAM)
And the Huffington Post reported that, "Luciano Pavarotti's assets were far slimmer than anyone predicted. His family had looked set to go to war over a stash estimated at more than £200million following his death last month, aged 71. In fact, the opera legend died owing more than £12million [$25 million], according to Italian reports." (Huffington Post)
Rupert Murdoch
The Times reports that Rupert Murdoch finally bought Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal for $5 billion. The purchase makes Mr. Murdoch the owner of a $70 billion media empire that includes, “100 newspapers worldwide, satellite broadcast operations, the Fox television network, the online social networking site MySpace and many other parts.” The Times goes on to say that the purchase makes Mr. Murdoch,” the most formidable figure in business news coverage in this country, perhaps worldwide.”(BTAM) (Photo courtesy of Time)
"Children of Men" Snubbed
Michael Slezak posted on From the Front Row, "Maybe its harrowing portrait of a dystopian future was more than Academy voters could bear. Maybe its late release date and the truncated Oscar calendar combined to work against it. Either way, the omission of Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men from the list of this year's Best Picture nominees is one that film historians and fans alike will almost certainly look back on with befuddlement. Children of Men is the rarest of films — it's a nail-biting adventure that follows an expectant mother (Claire Hope Ashitey) and her skeptical guardian (Clive Owen) in a race against time; a subtle commentary on global politics; and a gut-wrenching vision of a world without children, without hope. In much the same way the film haunts viewers days, even weeks, after seeing it, we suspect the specter of its snub will haunt the Oscars telecast come Feb. 2" (From the Front Row)
Free Britney posted the following on The Hollywood Gossip: Celebrity baby extraordinaire Suri Cruise spiced up her life, if you will, taking in a private concert with the recently reunited Spice Girls. Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and their one-and-a-half-year-old daughter took in a show with the group during a surprise visit in L.A. as they rehearsed.
According to the Spice Girls’ official website: “Tom and Katie enjoyed an impromptu audience with the girls and were treated to an exclusive performance, while [Suri Cruise] danced along to the music."
Said Holmes’ pal, Victoria Beckham, a.k.a. Posh Spice: “[My husband David Beckham] and I are great friends with Tom and Katie. It was lovely of them to come down to rehearsals, a nice surprise. Katie has told me that she used to be a big Spice fan, so it was great for her to meet the other girls.”
No word on whether the whole TomKat clan went over to peep the sub-par Dancing with the Stars after the Spice Girls rehearsal. (The photo of the family leaving the rehearsal is also courtesy of The Hollywood Gossip)
"30Rock" Product Placements
In the "Jack-tor" episode of "30 Rock," the opening segment spoofs the entire notion of product placements in TV shows. Calling them "pos-mens," Jack explains to the writing staff the notion of product integration thru positive mentions. Liz challenges the integrity of the concept, then one of the writers exclaims "Hey, this is Diet Snapple?!", and the whole room bursts out with positive mentions of the drink, culminating with the hot young office assistant staring with bedroom eyes into the camera declaring that she only dates men who drink Snapple. Later on, as a few characters are getting on to an elevator, a guy in a Snapple suit asks for directions then walks off camera. (Deeje)
... "30 Rock" had an interesting bit of product placement: the oven that "vice president of East Coast and microwave oven programming" Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwon) developed, the GE Profile Trivection oven, is real (notice what it says on the lower left corner of that web page: "The GE Profile oven with Trivection technology becomes a star on NBC's new sitcom, 30 Rock."). NBC decided to air an ad for the Trivection oven right after the scene where Jack talks about the oven to Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) and producer Pete (Scott Adsit). (TV Squad) "30 Rock" Product Placement for Verizon
Dr. J. Robert Cade Inventor of Gatorade (September 26, 1927 - November 27, 2007)
Dr. J. Robert Cade, who invented the sports drink Gatorade and launched a multibillion-dollar industry that the beverage continues to dominate, died Tuesday of kidney failure. He was 80.
His death was announced by the University of Florida, where he and other researchers created Gatorade in 1965 to help the school's football players replace carbohydrates and electrolytes lost through sweat while playing in swamp-like heat.
The sports and energy drink industry — led by Gatorade and worth more than $19 billion last year, according to a British study — began with a question asked in 1965 by Dwayne Douglas, a football coach at the University of Florida: Why didn’t his players urinate after a game?
Part of the answer came quickly: football players lost so much fluid in sweat in swamplike Florida that they had none left to form urine. It took longer to explain how the loss of fluid and electrolytes affected blood pressure, body temperature and the volume of blood.
In a subbasement, Dr. Cade and his researchers then concocted a drink to rehydrate athletes, and to replenish carbohydrates, in the form of the sugars sucrose and glucose, and electrolytes (sodium and potassium salts). (NY Times) (Photo courtesy of University of Florida, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)
With a nod to the classic "Choose Your Own Adventure" series, NBA FanHouse brings you inside Stephon Marbury's shaved head. Make the right decision, and you're a hero. Make the wrong play, and things get ugly. Choose wisely!
_____________
The month is November. The setting is Madison Square Garden. You are Starbury, the world's greatest point guard.* You have been benched by your coach, Isiah Thomas, who could be fired any day now.
This is appalling. Michael Jordan didn't come off the bench. There's no scenario under which Stephon Marbury should sit behind a scrub like Mardy Collins.
What do you choose to do?
Click here to stay with the Knicks. Maybe you can be New York's hero again.
... or ...
Click here to negotiate a buyout agreement. You can free yourself from the shackles of MSG management. The team is a disaster; best to extract your paycheck and bounce.
... or ...
Click here to go AWOL again. You left before, and got Isiah a lot of bad press. Maybe the powers-that-be will force Isiah out if you do it again. (AOL Sports)
"Futurama: Bender's Big Score"
Plot Outline: Planet Express sees a hostile takeover and Bender falls into the hands of criminals where he is used to fulfill their schemes. (IMDb)
Trailer
Jackson 5 Reunion
Jermaine Jackson has confirmed speculation The Jackson 5 are to embark on a reunion tour in 2008 - complete with pop superstar brother Michael.
Concert promoter Leonard Rowe - the man behind Michael Jackson's Off The Wall tour in the late 1970s and early 1980s - recently admitted he had been in touch with the infamous Jackson family to discuss reforming for a number of live dates. He also claimed Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Marlon had already confirmed their involvement - the Thriller superstar was the only family member yet to give a firm 'yes'.
And Jermaine reveals the Abc hitmakers have been planning a comeback for years, but the project was delayed by Michael's child abuse trial in 2005. He says, "Michael will be involved. We feel we have to do it one more time. We owe that to the fans and to the public." (Teen Music)
Plot Summary: In an animated fairy tale world, a young girl meets and falls in love with the handsome prince of her dreams. News of this romance upsets the prince's mother, the evil queen, who uses her black magic to send the girl hurtling out of the animated world into the one place in the universe where there is no true love: modern day Manhattan. The now-real girl has to survive in New York City and find her way home again to her true love. (IMDb\Written by Giorgio_C)
"Enchanted is a sugar spun delight. It's as fluffy as a bunch of newborn bunnies and as cute as an entire collection of buttons." -- Bill Gibron, PopMatters Trailer
"Do Not Open: An Enclyopedia of the Worlds Best Kept Secrets"
Book Description: In the groundbreaking tradition of DK's New York Times bestseller Pick Me Up, this book uses the same irreverent style to explore all the things THEY don't want you know about. From the Mona Lisa's hidden past to the history of Area 51, Do Not Open explores lost worlds, unravels secret codes, and lets readers step through the looking glass to see if they can handle the truth! (Amazon)
". . . a colorful book filled with unexplained mysteries, bizarre anecdotes through the ages, great escapes, codes, optical illusions, hoaxes, and explanations of secret systems and complexes." (Boingboing.net)
Sarah Murray's "Moveable Feasts"
Editorial Review From Publishers Weekly: Murray, a Financial Times contributor, takes a look at the literal journey of food through multilayered essays of the history of food transportation. From the banana export business of Central America to the creation of the barrel (which ... contributed a new dimension to the art of winemaking), the dozen chapters each start with a straightforward item-the shipping container, a tin can, a tub of yogurt, etc.-and delve into topics of greater significance like globalization, empire building, localized farming and food aid programs. For example, her essay on the amphora, a container used to carry olive oil throughout the ancient Roman Empire, not only depicts the social and economic importance of olive oil in Roman times but also leads into the contemporary debate of regional designation of origins for foods like Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or Newcastle brown ale. Erudite and thoroughly researched, this is a fascinating read for both foodies and those who love how the minutiae of life often provide a fresh lens with which to view the world. (Amazon)
Laura Linney in Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Roundabout Theatre Company presents Laura Linney and Ben Daniels in a new Broadway production of the romantic drama, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, by Christopher Hampton; directed by Rufus Norris. The limited engagement begins preview performances on April 11, 2008; opening May 1, 2008 at the American Airlines Theatre (227 West 42nd Street).
Emmy Award winning actress Laura Linney will star as "La Marquise de Merteuil" opposite Ben Daniels making his Broadway debut as "Le Vicomte de Valmont."
"The definitive battle of the sexes springs to life in this Tony Award-nominated classic [Les Liaisons Dangereuses] by Christopher Hampton. For long-time friends and occasional lovers Vicomte de Valmont and Marquise de Merteuil, love is simply a game of chess. But in a few false moves, they're about to find themselves locked in the ultimate checkmate. Filled with seduction, betrayal, and plenty of illicit passion, this dark comedy paints the pre-Revolutionary French aristocracy in all its cynicism and decadence," explain press notes. (Broadway World)
"The Savages"
Plot Synopsis: A sister (Linney) and brother (Hoffman) face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.
"'The Savages'...left me with a sense of acute pleasure, even joy. It's the pleasure of a true-to-life tale told by a director and actors who've sunk so deep into their movie together you wonder how they ever surfaced." -- The New York Times, Manohla Dargis Trailer
"The Diving Bell And The Butterfly"
Plot Summary: Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, in 1995 at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body, except his left eye. Using that eye to blink out his [best-selling French memoir] memoir, Bauby eloquently described the aspects of his interior world, from the psychological torment of being trapped inside his body to his imagined stories from lands he'd only visited in his mind. (IMDb)
["The Diving Bell And The Butterfly"] is the latest subject for American artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel and the result won him best director at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. (VOA News)
Andrew Sarris of the New York Observer said in his review of "The Diving Bell And The Butterfly,""Astonishingly lyrical and profoundly moving."
According to an earnest warning on Volumes 1 and 2, “Sesame Street: Old School” is adults-only: “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”
Alistair Cookie, played by Cookie Monster, used to appear [in “Monsterpiece Theater”] with a pipe, which he later gobbled. According to [Carol-Lynn] Parente [the executive producer of “Sesame Street”], “That modeled the wrong behavior” — smoking, eating pipes — “so we reshot those scenes without the pipe, and then we dropped the parody altogether.” (NY Times) (Photo courtesy of Kevin Van Aelst)
Con Ed Indian Manhole Covers
Eight thousand miles from Manhattan, barefoot, shirtless, whip-thin men rippled with muscle were forging prosaic pieces of the urban jigsaw puzzle: manhole covers.
Seemingly impervious to the heat from the metal, the workers at one of West Bengal’s many foundries relied on strength and bare hands rather than machinery. Safety precautions were barely in evidence; just a few pairs of eye goggles were seen in use on a recent visit. The foundry, Shakti Industries in Haora, produces manhole covers for Con Edison [roughly 2,750 a year] and New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, as well as for departments in New Orleans and Syracuse.
Manhole covers manufactured in India can be anywhere from 20 to 60 percent cheaper than those made in the United States ... Workers at foundries in India are paid the equivalent of a few dollars a day, while foundry workers in the United States earn about $25 an hour. (NY Times)
The NY Times has a very engaging multimedia presentation on this topic. (Photo courtesy of J. Adam Huggins for The New York Times)
Replacing Amtrak Blog
Amtrak is a colossal failure. I [Joseph Vranich, editor of Replacing Amtrak] was one of the people who worked to create Amtrak in 1970-71. The railroad today bears little resemblance to what was promised. Federal subsidies to Amtrak now exceed $30.7 billion (and states have provided several billion more), Yet Amtrak remains in dire straits and has yet to launch major reforms. Anthony Haswell, sometimes acknowledged as the "father” of Amtrak, agrees with my views and praises the book “End of the Line.”
Joseph Vranich is author of End of the Line: The Failure of Amtrak Reform and the Future of America's Passenger Trains (AEI Press). He worked to create Amtrak in 1970-71. He later served as an Amtrak press spokesman, President of the High Speed Rail Association, and a U.S. Senate appointee to Amtrak Reform Council. While at Amtrak in the 1970s his arguments to expand service on high-potential routes such as Los Angeles-San Diego, Sacramento-Oakland, Seattle-Portland, and Chicago-Milwaukee fell on management’s deaf ears. Were it not for later initiatives by the states of California, Washington, Illinois and Wisconsin, these now-popular routes would remain under-served because of Amtrak's never-ending, costly quest to preserve market-irrelevant, long-distance routes. (Replacing Amtrak)
Ted Kennedy Memoir
The youngest and last surviving brother of the country's most famous political siblings has sold the rights to his memoirs to the Hachette Book Group.
Financial terms aren't being released, but a publishing official says the deal is comparable to ones given to other politicians recently. Hillary Clinton got eight million dollars for her book, while former British Prime Minister Tony Blair received nine million for his upcoming memoir.
Kennedy has the same agent as Clinton and Blair. The Massachusetts senator says he's been fortunate to have "a front row seat at many key events" in the nation's history. He wants the book to give a "more in-depth picture" of the Kennedys.
The autobiography is slated to come out in 2010. (ABC News)
