The Wire is an American television drama set and produced in Baltimore, Maryland. Created, produced, and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series is broadcast by HBO. The Wire premiered on June 2, 2002, with 50 episodes airing over the course of its first four seasons. The fifth and final season, which encompasses 10 episodes, premiered on January 6, 2008.
The plot of the first season centers on the ongoing struggles between police units and drug-dealing gangs on the west side of the city, and is told from both points of view. Subsequent seasons have focused on other facets of the city. Simon has said that despite its presentation as a crime drama, the show is "really about the American city, and about how we live together. It's about how institutions have an effect on individuals, and how…whether you're a cop, a longshoreman, a drug dealer, a politician, a judge [or] lawyer, you are ultimately compromised and must contend with whatever institution you've committed to."
The Wire has received critical acclaim for its realistic portrayal of urban life and uncommonly deep exploration of sociological themes, and has been called the best show on television by TIME, Entertainment Weekly, The Guardian, the Chicago Tribune, Slate, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Philadelphia Daily News. Despite the positive reviews, the show has failed to draw an audience commensurate with its press. (Wikipedia)
Now comes the coolest cross-promotional announcement yet: Starting later this month, art gallery Deitch Projects will be hosting an interactive Michel Gondry Be Kind Rewind exhibition [January 24, 2008 — March 01, 2008 18 Wooster Street, New York].
Just as the movie features Jack Black and Mos Def videotaping low-fi re-creations, or (in the parlance of the film) "sweded" versions, of popular movies, so will Deitch Projects allow visitors to create their own sweded films. Visitors can take home copies of their own movies, but all movies created during the exhibition will also be available for viewing and rental from the gallery. (NY Mag)
Be Kind Rewind is a film about two childhood friends living in Pasaic, New Jersey, trying to make ends meet. After one of the characters accidentally gets his brain magnetized by trying to sabotage a local power plant, he visits the video store his friend is taking care of while the owner is away and unknowingly erases all of the video tapes in the store’s inventory. The characters decide to make their own homemade versions of popular films in a junkyard behind the store. These new “sweded” films—recreations using commonly available, everyday materials—prove more popular with the customers than the originals, making the two friends local celebrities. (Deitch)
The Times ran an editorial on Monday (Looking at America) that began this way: "There are too many moments these days when we cannot recognize our country," followed by a spin through the high crimes and low points of the Bush administration. The Times wrote, "[T]here is no excuse for how President Bush and his advisers panicked—how they forgot that it is their responsibility to protect American lives and American ideals, that there really is no safety for Americans or their country when those ideals are sacrificed." It's a variation on Benjamin Franklin's point that "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." And that's a point that always bears repeating.
The editorial, however, would have been much improved in two ways. First, it should have run several years ago. Surely the Times can not be rubbing its eyes only now in disbelief at what has happened to our country, our Constitution, and our reputation around the world under this regime.
More troubling, though, is the Times' amnesia about its own role in failing its two crucial obligations of accuracy—embodied most egregiously in reporting by Judith Miller—and skepticism, a pervasive reluctance by the paper to examine the claims by the Bush administration in its rush to war.
Yes, the Times has previously, openly, even vigorously discussed these failures. But to look at what the world has come to in the past seven years without including the systemic failure of the mainstream press gives the impression that the Times would like what happened on 43rd Street to stay on 43rd Street. That impression is reinforced by the paper's decision to hire William Kristol as an editorial writer. No, it's not as appalling as hiring Karl Rove, which Time magazine has done. But it's another in a string of serious misjudgments by the Times that have us fearing not only that they just don't get it but that they may never get it back. Proof of this comes from Times editorial page editor Andy Rosenthal, quoted by Media Matters, who said he doesn't understand "this weird fear of opposing views."
That is a defense so disingenuous or so clueless as to be itself suggestive of a pathology. It's not an opposing view that's the problem. It's not simply that Kristol has been a narrow-minded proponent of the neocon viewpoint. It is that he has been so demonstrably, disastrously wrong in so many of his arguments and nearly as many of his assertions. Give us an opposing view, but not one so manifestly discredited here and around the world.
Moreover, some of us feel the country has been injured so grievously in the past seven years that being asked to listen to any of them—the captain, the team, or the cheerleaders—is an insufferable affront, particularly coming from a once-unassailable newspaper, reduced by the worst administration in the country's history to the role of enabler.
286 portraits of the same female saint, Francis Alys, crafted by artists ranging from skilled hacks to ungifted amateurs, all showing their subject in the same pose, in the same clothes and in general as much alike as they could make her, make up the exhibit "Francis Alys: Fabiola," which will run through the spring at the Hispanic Society.
Fabiola is a Catholic saint who died in Rome in 399. Born into a wealthy family, she was the subject of a scandal in the early Christian church -- she dared divorce an abusive husband -- but later renounced all worldly goods and became a chum of Saint Jerome. Fabiola was mostly ignored until 1854, when a sentimental novel about her life became a bestseller. She got another boost in 1885, when a French artist named Jean-Jacques Henner painted what became her iconic image. Henner's painting hasn't survived. But over the past 120 years, thousands and thousands of copies of it have been made by professionals, part-timers and faith-filled outsider artists. (Washington Post) Image courtesy of the Hispanic Society of America and Dia Art Foundation, New York.
Brad Aaron filed on Streetsbog - It ain't the Velib, but yesterday it was announced that Dutch team West 8 would design a 40-acre park for Governors Island, which will include a fleet of 3,000 wooden bicycles free for use by island visitors.
Plot Outline: A dramatization of Mark Champman's plan to murder John Lennon. (IMDb)
W. Richard West Jr.
The portrait of W. Richard West Jr., former director of the National Museum of the American Indian, reportedly cost $48,500. (Washington Post photo via AP)
The recently retired director of the National Museum of the American Indian spent $48,500 in museum funds to commission a portrait of himself and selected a non-Indian artist to create it, a newspaper reported Friday.
The portrait of W. Richard West Jr. by New York painter Burton Silverman hangs in a fourth-floor lounge of the museum, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution and is dedicated to the arts and culture of American Indians.
West, a 64-year-old Harvard-trained historian and member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes, was hired in 1989 to oversee planning for the flagship museum, which opened in 2004.
He retired last month. His expenses have come under scrutiny following recent reports that he spent more than $250,000 in the past four years on first-class transportation and luxury hotels. (AP)
Berlin Theatre Releases Tear Gas
Audiences at a Dec. 29 performance of Emile and the Detectives at Berlin's Volksbühne Theatre fled the venue when tear gas was accidentally released, according to reports.
According to the theatre's website, the tear gas was released during a scene in which there is a confrontation between two characters (played by actors Milan Peschel and Georg Friedrich). Shots fired from a pistol were reportedly teargas cartridges instead of blanks.
The audience of approximatetly 80 people dispersed and, according to the theatre, around 30 returned to the show. "So far it is unclear whether the incident was [caused by] a faulty cartridge," reads the website. (Playbill\Ernio Hernandez)
Teen Trash Poet Robert Frost's Home
Ada Calhoun posted on AOL's News Bloggers - Homer Noble Farm, a former home of poet Robert Frost, was vandalized over the weekend by some fifty teenagers, who broke into the historic site in Vermont for a drinking party.
According to the report on AOL News: The intruders broke a window to get into the two-story wood frame building -- a furnished residence open in the summer -- before destroying tables and chairs, pictures, windows, light fixtures and dishes. Wicker furniture and dressers were smashed and thrown into a fireplace and burned, apparently to provide heat in the unheated building, he said.
Empty beer bottles and cans, plastic cups and cellophane apparently used to hold marijuana were also found, according to Hodsden. The vandals vomited in the living room and discharged two fire extinguishers inside the building, located on a dead-end road off Route 125.
"Do Me" Cover
“Everyone wants to read about sex!” Lucia Perillo writes in her essay in “Do Me,” an eclectic literary anthology dedicated to sex in all its glorious — and not so glorious — iterations.
Adolescent lust. Reckless infidelities. Soulful communions. Vacuous fantasies. Off-the-beaten-path eroticism. You name it, you’ll find just about every form of sexual encounter between the pages of this collection. Published by Tin House Books, it includes fiction and nonfiction pieces that have appeared since 1999 in the Tin House literary magazine, published in Portland, Ore. Following suit with old-school institutions like The New Yorker and The Paris Review, Tin House regularly publishes themed anthologies as a way to roll out its greatest hits. (New York Times)
Due to the writer's strike, ABC will air a serialized "Lost" in midseason beginning January 31, running the eight produced episodes, which is 10 short of the 18-episode order. (Reuters)
Knick's Fans Cheer for Kobe
Kobe Bryant gave New York Knicks fans something to cheer about during an otherwise dismal season.
Bryant scored 40 points, even though he just hit one field goal in the second half, and was applauded by the Madison Square Garden crowd in the Los Angeles Lakers' 130-97 victory Tuesday night.
The NBA's leading scorer sparked a pair of early runs, then spent the rest of the night leading a parade of Lakers to the foul line. He was 7-of-17 from the field and 23-of-26 at the line before heading to the bench to cheers with 5 1/2 minutes left.
"It feels good," said Bryant, who on Monday called Madison Square Garden his favorite place to play. "It lets me know they appreciate what I do out there on the floor." (Red Orbit)
Jamie Lynn Spears' Pregnancy
Just in case you're an astronaut, and was on another planet working, Jamie Lynn, the 16-year-old sister of Britney Spears, and the star of Nick's "Zoey 101, is pregnant. The father is 19-year-old Casey Aldridge - the son of a Tennessee papermill worker. The couple meet at church in Kentwood, Louisiana, and plans to keep the baby.
Jan. 2 (Bloomberg) -- David Letterman's ``Late Show'' returns to CBS television tonight with fresh material and his team of comedy writers, as rival Jay Leno faces picketers outside the NBC studio for his unscripted performance.
Letterman's Worldwide Pants company reached a labor agreement with striking entertainment writers on Dec. 28, allowing his show and Craig Ferguson's to resume production with their writers. NBC's Leno and Conan O'Brien, as well as Jimmy Kimmel on ABC, come back tonight without their writing staffs.
Both sides in the two-month-old strike by the Writers Guild of America say the return of late-night shows strengthens their positions. The networks are counting on the programs to boost ratings that have sagged since reruns began airing Nov. 5. Writers say the Letterman accord will pressure NBC and ABC as their hosts confront competitors backed by writing teams.
Helen Mirren
Helen Mirren plays Emil Appleton, Ben's (Nicolas Cage) mother in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." (IMDb)
Richard Roeper of Ebert & Roeper said in his review of the film, "This just might be the silliest movie ever to feature three Academy Award winners."
The blood orange is a variety of orange (Citrus sinensis) with crimson, blood-colored flesh. The fruit is smaller than an average orange; its skin is usually pitted, but can be smooth. The juice is sweet but somewhat bitter and less acidic than regular table oranges. The distinctive dark flesh color is due to the presence of anthocyanin, a pigment common to many flowers and fruit, but uncommon in citrus fruits. Sometimes there is dark coloring on the exterior of the rind as well, depending on the variety of blood orange. The degree of coloration depends on to light, temperature and variety. (Wikipedia)
Clementine's are the tiniest of the mandarins. Imported from Spain, Morocco, and other parts of North Africa, clementines are a cross between a sweet orange and a Chinese mandarin. They are small, very sweet, and usually seedless. Most people think of clementines as small tangerines, but they're a different variety entirely, with a distinctive taste. The Clementine is an excellent eating orange. Its small size and lack of seeds make it particularly popular with kids. Clementines have been available in Europe for many years, but the market for them in the United States was made only a few years ago, when a devastating freeze in Florida made domestic oranges scarce and expensive. A lot of oranges, including clementines, were imported from Europe, and clementines started to catch on. Over the past few years they've become increasingly popular, and as the demand has gone up, so has the price. Season:Late October to February (Produce Pete)
Ian McShane in "The Homecoming"
Ian McShane is known to TV audiences for his portrayal of profanity-spewing villain Al Swearingen in HBO's TV series 'Deadwood'. "The Homecoming" marks the 40th anniversary for both Pinter's play and Ian McShane. McShane has only appeared once on Broadway, and that was almost 40 years ago when he played Marat in a production of 'The Promise' by Aleksei Arbuzov. (NY Theatre Guide) Linda Winer of News Day wrote in her review of the play, "Ian McShane, famously antiheroic as the saloon owner in HBO's "Deadwood," has more dashing, crumbling good looks than are usually seen in Max, the once-powerful lowlife patriarch. Thus, along with the scary cane and even-more fearsome mouth, the actor with the deep sooty voice makes us believe Max's boasts about his former charisma."
THE HOMECOMING. By Harold Pinter, directed by Daniel Sullivan. Cort Theatre, 138 W. 48th St., through April 13. Tickets: $26.50-98.50. Call 212-239-6200.
Chip Kidd "The Learners" Cover
"the red part there is the dust jacket. The black and white illustration is actually the cover itself. And the circle of 'The Book After The Cheese Monkeys' corresponds with the rest of the illustration. It's really quite elegant." (The Book Design Review)
While Chip Kidd may be best known for his book covers — his designs have graced titles by David Sedaris, Michael Crichton and hundreds of other authors — occasionally he likes to work between them.
The Learners serves as a sequel of sorts to Kidd's first novel, 2001's The Cheese Monkeys. Set in the early 1960s, The Learners follows a young graphic designer who decides to answer the first newspaper ad he creates. What follows is "a murder mystery about a killing that may never have taken place," Kidd says.
Not only does Kidd draw on his graphic-design background for the narrative, but he also incorporates it into the text. Typography plays a crucial role in The Learners; font size and design pull readers into the action. (USA Today)
"Cultural Guerrillas" Repair Panthéon's Clock
It is one of Paris's most celebrated monuments, a neoclassical masterpiece that has cast its shadow across the city for more than two centuries.
For a year from September 2005, under the nose of the Panthéon's unsuspecting security officials, a group of intrepid "illegal restorers" [Four members of an underground "cultural guerrilla" movement known as the Untergunther, whose purpose is to restore France's cultural heritage] set up a secret workshop and lounge in a cavity under the building's famous dome. Under the supervision of group member Jean-Baptiste Viot, a professional clockmaker, they pieced apart and repaired the antique clock that had been left to rust in the building since the 1960s. Only when their clandestine revamp of the elaborate timepiece had been completed did they reveal themselves.
Oscar Peterson 1925 - 2007
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, CC, CQ, O.Ont. (15 August 1925 – 23 December 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, and was therefore a member of jazz royalty. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career. He is considered to have been one of the greatest pianists of all time, who played thousands of live concerts to audiences worldwide in a career lasting more than 65 years. (Wikipedia)
The Elevated Bench
The sculpture was installed by the notorious streetartist Brad Downey on the Lower East Side on E Houston & Suffolk St. It was removed by the DOT. (Gothamist) (Pictures courtesy of Yelp)
"There Will Be Blood"
Plot Outline: A story about family, greed, religion, and oil, centered around a turn-of-the-century Texas prospector (Daniel Day-Lewis) in the early days of the business. (IMDb)
"The best movie performance so far this century? No contest. There's Daniel Day-Lewis' awe-inspiring turn as a greedy oilman in There Will Be Blood, and there is everyone else." (Lou Lumenick\New York Post)
I couldn't determine the last one. Please post in the comments if you know the answer.
Happy New Year via Text Message
Rather than conveying [Happy Chinese New Year] greetings via telephone as she had done in the past, Zhang Lan, used her cell phone to send more than 20 text messages to her relatives and friends, and Zhang Tao received more than 30 New Year's greetings in the form of text messages, and sent about 50 himself. (China)
In the UK, people went text messaging crazy and sent 77.5 million text messages on New Year's Day - far surpassing any previous record for text messaging. (Tech Dirt)
[And] Americans who want to say Happy New Year to a U.S. soldier can send a text message straight to Times Square. "Operation New Year's Eve" charges cell phone customers 99 cents to send messages to soldiers overseas. Beginning Friday, the messages were being displayed on a video screen from the tallest building in Times Square. (News Day)
Fungus on Leonardo's Codex Atlanticus
Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus, the largest bound collection of his drawings and writings, has been infiltrated by mold, Italian scholars said Friday [12/21/07]. The extent of damage to the Codex — an assemblage of 1,119 pages of drawings and writings dating from 1478 to 1519 on topics ranging from flying machines to weapons, mathematics to botany — is not yet known, but the mold is not spreading, they said.
But officials appealed for aid in restoring and conserving the Codex, saying it would be highly expensive and that there were no public funds for the project.
The Codex, which consists of 12 leather-bound volumes, is kept in a vault at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana where temperature and humidity are constantly monitored. The mold was first identified in April 2006 by Carmen Bambach, a curator of drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York...(New York Times)
Queens Library Reports Overdue-Books to Credit Bureaus
Abraham Kleinman, a lawyer from Uniondale, N.Y., represented a Queens man who sued Unique Management Services for reporting his $295 late bill from the Queens Library system to credit bureaus. The man, Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow, won a settlement on a technicality — Unique’s license to operate in New York State had lapsed when it reported him — but Mr. Kleinman is still angry about the tactic that was used against his client.
Mr. Kleinman argued that if library fines are reported, they should also be used to establish a positive credit record. “It should be the good, the bad and the ugly,” Mr. Kleinman said.
“If you can report a library record, it should be balanced and should include all the times that a consumer visited the library and followed the rules.”(New York Times)
Plot Summary: Corprate billionaire Edward Cole [Jack Nicholson] and working class mechanic Carter Chambers [Morgan Freeman] have nothing in common except for their terminal illnesses. While sharing a hospital room together, they decide to leave it and do all the things they have ever wanted to do before they die according to their bucket list. In the process, both of them heal each other, become unlikely friends, and ultimately find the joy in life. (IMDb)
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Subway Beating
Freelancers Union Ad
Jeremy Shockey’s New Year’s Eve Party
Manhattan’s hottest, newest nightclub is hosting Jeremy Shockey’s New Year’s Eve Party and we want to surround his guys with the city’s hottest girls. If you think you can dress, dance, and drink the part, then please send one head and one body shot, as well as your name and contact info, to brunofierce@gmail.com. Free entry and open bar all night long to the ladies we select. (Craigslist)
Jeremy Shockey plays tight end for the New York Giants, but had a season ending injury last Sunday.
Michael Imperioli
Emmy Award®-winning actor Michael Imperioli ("The Sopranos") starred in the two-hour television event motion picture "Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom's For One More Day," on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9 on the ABC Television Network.
In the film, based on Albom's bestselling book "For One More Day," Imperioli plays Chick Benetto, a broken-down former baseball player who has collapsed into alcoholism and despair. He returns one night to his small hometown with plans to take his life. At the final moment, he is magically granted one more day with his departed mother, Posey Benetto, played by Burstyn, who illuminates the secrets of both their lives and shows him a way to redemption. (ABC)
Plot Outline: Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman [Ellen Page] makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child. (IMDb)
Allison Brooks Janney [who plays the step-mother in "Juno"] is an Emmy-winning American actress, perhaps best known for her portrayal of C. J. Cregg on the American television series "The West Wing." (Wikipedia)
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Mongolian Mouse-Creature
"The Big Doe Rehab"
"The Big Doe Rehab" is the seventh album by American rapper and Wu-Tang Clan member Ghostface Killah. The album features guest appearances from fellow Wu-Tang members Raekwon, Method Man, U-God as well as from Kid Capri, Cappadonna and members of Ghostface's Theodore Unit crew. It also features production from LV & Sean C. from Sean "Diddy" Combs' production team, The Hitmen. A book based on a previous series of Ghostface MTV2 appearances, and entitled "The World According to Pretty Toney" was released on the same day as the album. (Wikipedia)
Rolling Stonesays, "The Big Doe Rehab isn't as distinct as last year's Fishscale, but it's close. Ghost's bouncy, more direct approach on cuts like "Walk Around" shows off his ability to turn crack-slinging narratives into big, hooky pleasures. Right now is a good time to be a Wu-Tang fan."
Sacha Baron Cohen's Jumpsuit in "Sweeney Todd"
Plot Summary from IMDb: Sweeney Todd a.k.a Benjamin Barker [Johnny Depp] returns to London after being sent away by Judge Turpin with the help of a sailor, Anthony Hope. He opens a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie Shop were she sells "the worst pies in London." With the help of Mrs. Lovett, Todd tries to rid of all the people who have ever done him wrong and hopes to be reunited with his daughter, Joanna, who is now Judge Turpin's ward.
Adolpho Prirelli [Sacha Baron Cohen] is a popular travelling barber and hair product salesman in "Sweeney Todd". He claims to have created an elixer that regrows hair, but Sweeney, who is attending one of his demonstrations, claims that it is fake. This sparks a strong rivalry between the two characters.
Filmmaker Ethan Coen has written three short plays called "Almost an Evening" that premier in January in Atlanta. In "Waiting," someone waits somewhere for quite some time. In "Four Benches," a voyage to self-discovery takes a British intelligence agent to steam baths in New York and Texas, and to park benches in the U.S. and U.K. In "Debate," cosmic questions are taken up. Not much is learned.”
The Artistic Director Neil Pepe, describes the plays as “incredibly unique and theatrical, and of course, extraordinarily funny and slightly dark.”
Together with Joel, Ethen penned the “sound-play” "Sawbones," which was given three performances at St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2005, and starred John Goodman and Steve Buscemi.
The Coen brothers wrote the screenplay for "No Country for Old Men."(Gothamist) (Photo courtesy of Gothamist)
"The Farnsworth Invention"
"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
Terrence Howard will make his stage debut in Debbie Allen's Broadway revival of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," the first production led by an all-black cast to be authorized by playwright Tennessee Williams' estate.
Tony-winning trio James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad and "Dreamgirls" actress Anika Noni Rose also star in the latest version of Williams' Pulitzer Prize-winning Southern drama, which is set to open March 6 at New York's Broadhurst Theatre.
Howard will play the haunted, alcoholic Brick, a former football player who rebuffs the advances of his wife, Maggie (Rose), and faces a tortured relationship with his domineering father, Big Daddy (Jones). Rashad plays Big Mama. The other two main roles in the dysfunctional family still are being cast.
Preview performances begin February 12. ( Gregg Goldstein\Reuters)
Philip Glass @ Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall presents [Thursday, December 6, 2007 at 8 PM] a concert of music from Philip Glass's legendary 20th-century opera, "Einstein on the Beach," performed live for the first time in 15 years by the Philip Glass Ensemble with chorus and violinist Timothy Fain. Produced for Carnegie Hall by Pomegranate Arts. (Carnegie Hall)
The ensemble, which included musicians who have been with Mr. Glass from the early days as well as newcomers, gave the score a tight, high-energy reading. Having Ms. [Lucinda Childs] on hand to recreate her original narration was a fine touch; Melvin Van Peebles was the male narrator. (NY Times)
In 1968, the fury and violence of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago propelled us toward a tipping point in politics. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated, America suffered its bloodiest year in Vietnam and drugs seduced us. Yet idealism--and hope--flourished. Explore the significance of that turbulent year and the way it continues to affect the American landscape. Tom Brokaw offers his perspective on the era and shares the rich personal odysseys of some of the people who lived through that chaotic time, along with the stories of younger people now experiencing its aftershocks. Includes archival footage and interviews with former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, who was talking to King when he was assassinated and rushed to his side to try to staunch the wound; Olympic gold medalist Rafer Johnson, who wrestled RFKs' assassin to the ground; and Arlo Guthrie, best known for his song "Alice's Restaurant. (History)
INTRO
Huckabee on AIDS Patients
The following was posted on the Say Anything blog by Rob - The Associated Press dug back through their archives and found some answers [Mike] Huckabee [The former Arkansas governor who is running for president.]gave to a questionnaire they sent him when he was seeking a seat in the House in 1992. He said some pretty controversial things about the AIDS issue it turns out. Here’s the three key quotes:
“If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.”
“I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.”
“In light of the extraordinary funds already being given for AIDS research, it does not seem that additional federal spending can be justified. An alternative would be to request that multimillionaire celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna and others who are pushing for more AIDS funding be encouraged to give out of their own personal treasuries increased amounts for AIDS research.”
"Honeydripper"
Plot Summary from IMDb (Warning: May contain spoilers!): 1950. Rural Alabama. Cotton harvest. It's a make-or-break weekend for the Honeydripper Lounge and its owner, piano player Tyrone "Pine Top" Purvis. Deep in debt to the liquor man, the chicken man, and the landlord, Tyrone is desperate to lure the young cotton pickers and local Army base recruits into his juke joint, away from Touissants, the rival joint across the way.
After laying off his regular talent, blues singer Bertha Mae, Tyrone announces to his sidekick Maceo that he has hired the famous electric guitar player, Guitar Sam, for a special one night only gig: pack em in and save the club. On the day of the show, the train arrives and Guitar Sam is no where to be found. Tyrone is forced to take drastic action. He makes a deal with Sheriff Pugh to release Sonny, the kid who hopped off a freight car here in Harmony, and turned up in the club claiming he could play the guitar as well as any Guitar Sam.
Tyrone cleans Sonny up and launches a last ditch scheme to pass off the young guitar picker as Guitar Sam just long enough to cut the lights and run off with cash box. When Sonny takes the stage and launches into his first scalding electric licks, Tyrone will learn if its lights out for the Honeydripper or if his luck has changed: he might just be another man saved by rock n' roll.
Honeydripper features an all-star cast including Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Stacy Keach, Mary Steenburgen,Yaya DaCosta and Sean Patrick Thomas; as well as such notable musicians as Keb Mo and Dr. Mable John. It also introduces a major new talent, Gary Clark Jr. who makes his electrifying film debut as Sonny.
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Manolo's for Men
This week [December 7, 2007], Manolo Blahnik, the Spanish designer famous for making women swoon over $700 stilettos, announced he's putting out a line of men's shoes. Among the styles: Afiyet, the aforementioned blue suede number, and Bir, a sandal made of leopard-print leather. "There are some simple sandals in beautiful materials, and a few classics -- with a twist," Blahnik said in a statement. "I thought it was time to bring back some color into the male wardrobe."
But...blue suede slingbacks and leopard print sandals are about as likely to catch on as men's eyeliner and the murse (aka, men's purse).
"I wouldn't wear them. I can't imagine guys wearing them," said Tyler Thoreson, executive editor of men.style.com. "They're of limited appeal, I think. He's a master cobbler, and so you probably won't find a better made pair of shoes anywhere, but the style isn't going to be for everyone." (ABC News)
Nappers at Gustavo Dudamel Philharmonic Debut
It's not unusual for members of a New York audience to leave early, but they stood their ground at Lincoln Center. And stood and stood. The audience gave 26-year-old conductor Gustavo Dudamel a standing ovation for five minutes Thursday [November 29, 2007] night after the dimple-faced whiz kid with a radiant smile and an emphatic baton finished his New York Philharmonic debut. (SFGate)
But according to the Approval Matrix some of the audience members took a nap during the debut.
The son of a salsa player and a music teacher from the Venezuelan city Barquisimeto, Dudamel shot to the top of the classical world last spring when he was named music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, effective September 2009. (SFGate)
Daniel J. Wakin of The New York Timesrelated that Gustavo Dudamel is classical music’s hottest young podium property.
Squash = Ive League Admissions?
In an era of increasingly competitive college admissions — when Princeton, for example, turns down four of five valedictorians who apply — anxious parents are looking for some edge, any edge, to help their child gain entry through the back door of the nation’s most selective universities.
Squash pros and coaches say that in the last few years the sport has seen a sharp increase in participation by children and teenagers, some of whose parents seem to have one eye on the ball and the other on college applications.
ONE New York parent of a squash-playing daughter pointed out that college squash scholarships were still rare, vacancies few — often no more than a few freshmen on a squad — and players from squash hothouses like the Middle East and South Asia tended to fill many of those. (NY Times) (Photo courtesy of Cheryl Senter for The New York Times)
"Atonement"
Joe Wright, the BAFTA Award-winning director of "Pride & Prejudice," has reunited with his film making team and his Academy Award-nominated actress, Keira Knightley, for another classic British romance, starring James McAvoy (BAFTA Award nominee for "The Last King of Scotland") opposite Ms. Knightley. Christopher Hampton (Academy Award winner for "Dangerous Liaisons") has written the screenplay adaptation of Ian McEwan's best-selling 2002 novel Atonement.
Shot on location in the U.K., the film's story spans several decades. In 1935, 13-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan) and her family live a life of wealth and privilege in their enormous mansion. On the warmest day of the year, the country estate takes on an unsettling hothouse atmosphere, stoking Briony's vivid imagination. Robbie Turner (Mr. McAvoy), the educated son of the family's housekeeper, carries a torch for Briony's headstrong older sister Cecilia (Ms. Knightley). Cecilia, he hopes, has comparable feelings; all it will take is one spark for this relationship to combust. When it does, Briony -- who has a crush on Robbie -- is compelled to interfere, going so far as accusing Robbie of a crime he did not commit. Cecilia and Robbie declare their love for each other, but he is arrested -- and with Briony bearing false witness, the course of three lives is changed forever. Briony continues to seek forgiveness for her childhood misdeed. Through a terrible and courageous act of imagination, she finds the path to her uncertain atonement, and to an understanding of the power of enduring love. (Written by Orange\via IMDb)
