PAPERMAG couldn't make it to Austin for SXSW this year, so we're living vicariously through much-buzzed-about Berkeley indie-pop band the Morning Benders. Currently touring in support of their just-released album, Big Echo, they've stopped off in Austin to play the festival. Frontman Christopher Chu has been keeping us updated on their adventures and, here, in the Morning Benders' final diary entry, they realize playing three shows in one day is really hard.

On Wednesday we had gotten a taste of South By, but it wasn't until Thursday that we really got deep into it. Three shows in one day seems to be realistic, but it's definitely testing man's limits. We started the day off outside at the super-awesome and chill Eastbound and Found, then moved next door to the epic FADER Fort, and finished off at Ms. Beas, a makeshift venue outside in a park, for the jam-packed True Panther Showcase. It's interesting playing three variations of the same set in three completely different venues. Just when you feel like playing a song might become routine, you take a look around and realize how different the people and surroundings are. There's a certain vibrancy to SXSW that is hard to put your finger on. Sure, all these people have probably already seen 10 bands before you (and will likely see another 10 bands after you), but everyone here loves music so much they are willing to jump into the fray time and time again.

Morning Benders' Diary, Day 3
Morning Benders' Diary, Day 2
Morning Benders' Diary, Day 1

Photo of Christopher Chu via Flickr.

Rock & Republic is best known for their high-end denim with extravagant washes, treatments, and bum-flattering pocket designs. But at their Fall 2010 editor preview at their Robertson store in L.A. Wednesday night, but it was their shoe collection that stole the show. Two pairs of stilettos  -- the Ginny,  a five-inch heel wrapped in a black mesh that is encrusted with over 100 Swarovski crystals, and the Gabriel, a brown suede six-inch heel covered in silver studs -- were of particular note.  I'm not the only one that was going gaga either, Lady Gaga herself telephoned over for a pair of this seasons Lotus Pumps, a leather heel with metal chain corset laced up the back of the shoe. Stylists for Kristen Stewart, Gabrielle Union and Hillary Swank were pulling a few different styles -- watch for them on the red carpet any day now. 

1. As part of their Brucennial, currently being held at 350 W. Broadway through April 12, wily art collective the Bruce High Quality Foundation is screening "The Show Must Go On," their homage to the moving image. It starts at 6 p.m. Sunday.

2. Project White T-Shirt -- a fundraiser for Designers Against AIDS in which white t-shirts are reinterpreted by 31 designers including Bruno Pieters, Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, and Kostas Murkudi -- are bringing their collection of shirts to L.A. gallery Space 15 Twenty for the exhibition "Planet White T-Shirt." The opening is tomorrow night from 7-9 p.m.

3. Spike Jonze's robot love story, I'm Here, is now online in its entirety!

4. Tomorrow is "Macaron Day" in NYC (A Macaron is like a fancy, French version of whoopie pies). Here's a list of bakeries that are giving them away for free.

5. It's perfect weather for biking around the city and Brooklyn bike shop Ride Brooklyn couldn't agree more. Starting today through Sunday, they're hosting Spring Cycling, featuring a bike sale, clinics, and guest speakers to keep you in the know.

6. Watch this Japanese commercial for potato chips with the sound down. Laugh and/or cry! Repeat as often as necessary through out your day.

7. After he gets done playing Perez Hilton's SXSW party tomorrow, Snoop Dogg's heading to Williamsburg to play Brooklyn Bowl. Huh. Tickets go on sale tomorrow at noon. [Ticketfly.com]

8. Thomas Bartlett, or Doveman, is playing tonight at the Kitchen. The set is divided into two parts: First, he'll perform with Nico Muhly as part of side project Peter Pears, and then he'll play tracks from his album, The Conformist, with his band, which includes guitar virtuoso Sam Amidon. [The Kitchen]

Wednesday night a parade of do-gooders and glamourpusses gathered at the SoHo Grand Hotel for Save Chile: A Fundraiser for Chilean Earthquake Relief Benefiting the American Red Cross. The event was hosted by Maria Cornejo (who is a native of Chile), her daughter Bibi Cornejo Borthwick, Mara Hoffman, Waris Ahluwalia and Mr. Mickey. The event raised $5,826! Take a peek above at the fabulous people who showed up to give their support!

Grand Street, which was completely closed down last night from 6 to 8, bared more resemblance to an outdoor rock concert than an art opening. "I've never seen anything like this before" I kept hearing over and over again. The occasion? The opening of photographer Ryan McGinley's new show, "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," at Team Gallery. When I finally got a moment with the man of the hour, I asked him if there's an image he's always still searching for that's still out there, to which he responded, ''I  have always had an endless fascination with nudity! Always!"

The kerfuffle between disgraced author Gerald Posner and Frank Owen got personal at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens last night. After being dismissed from the Daily Beast following several accusations of plagiarism, Posner is now defending himself from charges that his book Miami Babylon plagiarizes from Owen's Clubland: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture. After the contentious encounter Owen posted this on his Facebook page:
 

The real sparks came after the reading when Lera asked Posner "Are we still going out for a drink to discuss this?" Posner exploded. His plastic face turned red: "Yeah, I'm a thieving cocksucker." "Yes, you are a thieving cocksucker," Lera replied. And then an elderly lady came running towards them: "This is a botanical garden. It's a peaceful place. Can you please take it some place else?"

Miami New Times, which broke the story, has more here, including another video in which Posner defends himself and bizarrely throws his wife under the bus as well, saying she is partly to blame while apologizing to her at the same time.

My old friend, the wonderful light designer Ingo Maurer, has been very upset lately over the new European ban on the frosted light bulb. And so he created a funny design solution: Ingo's hilarious "bulb condoms," which are eight bucks (while they last... these are for SURE collectors items guys!) at Maurer's store (on the corner of Grand and Greene Streets). Check them out!

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, a gripping thriller based on the first book of the wildly popular "Millennium" trilogy by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson, opens today. Michael Nyqvist plays Mikael Blomkvist, disgraced journalist, awaiting jail time for a libel suit, who accepts a case to investigate the 40 year old disappearance of the young niece from a dysfunctional powerful industrial family. His search for clues brings him into contact with a mysterious computer hacker, Lisabeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), a punked out girl with piercings and tattoos who becomes his close ally and their inquiry uncovers a monstrous family secret. Director Niels Arden Oplev successfully distills the quiet fire from the book on screen thanks to a spot on cast. Michael Nykqvist has the requisite world-weary intelligence and compassion and Noomi Rapace has the guardedness of Lisbaeth but also the vulnerability and tenacious spirit of this fascinating fictional character who became the heart and soul of the trilogy. A relief for fans of the novel who can forgo "the book was much better" phrase for once. This mystery is as devastating, suspenseful and satisfying on screen. 

As most frequent Broadway-goers know, many a Playbill bio are filled with actors' appearances on Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Law and Order Criminal Intent... But now it looks as if there might be a new show casting New York-based theater actors on a regular basis, The Good Wife. The show starring Julianna Margulies (who presented at the Tony Awards last year) as a scorned politician's wife, ala Silda Spitzer, films in New York although it takes place in Chicago. I happened to catch this week's episode and was excited to see one of my favorite Broadway actors Santino Fontana as a guest star as well as Martha Plimpton and Alan Cumming who apparently have reoccuring roles.  Broadway vet Christine Baranski is one of the show's stars!  I think I might have to add The Good Wife to my DVR que!

Here's a photo of Alan Cumming all suited up as the lawyer Eli Stone in The Good Wife.

Amber Lancaster plays the cheerleading dream girl of a well-endowed geek on MTV's first single-cam comedy, The Hard Times of RJ Berger. The show premiers June 6th with a huge push by MTV, as they sober up from their ten-year reality show bender. The comedy is based around RJ's (Paul Iacono) huge appendage being unveiled during a school pep assembly, and how his popularity goes from zero to 60 quicker then Amber can do the splits. Lancaster has played a soap star diva, been part of the gang on Entourage, and, here, tells us about going to school with no clothes on. 

Describe your role on Hard Times.
I play the role of Jenny Swanson. She's the quintessential, all-American girl-next door that is also the girl of RJ's dreams (both literally and figuratively).

It's a funny role that requires good comedic timing.
The show is basically a series of awkward moments. My character is funny without knowing that she is funny, not because of the things she does, but because of how obsessed RJ is with her and she is completely oblivious.

Have there been any awkward moments on set?
My most awkward moment was a scene where RJ dreams that I come to school naked, with nothing but a backpack on. So I filmed the scene with literally nothing but a backpack and 50 extras, 4 cameras, 20 crew. You get the idea. It was very awkward.

READ MORE »

PAPERMAG couldn't make it to Austin for SXSW this year, so we're living vicariously through much-buzzed-about Berkeley indie-pop band the Morning Benders. Currently touring in support of their just-released album, Big Echo, they're playing six shows in three days at the festival. Frontman Christopher Chu has been keeping us updated on their adventures and, here, he realizes that the entire city of Austin is totally drunk.

We pulled up to the club at SXSW to load our gear in for our first show, and as luck would have it, we went to the wrong loading entrance! We could practically see the stage from our van, but it didn't matter -- we were sent around the block. 25 minutes later through a series of detours, and gridlocked traffic we arrived at the "correct" loading door, half a block away. Welcome to SXSW! Lucky for us, the fact that everything takes a little longer is balanced out by the fact that everyone is drunk (or focused on getting there). Even the kids that are obviously 16-years-old are throwing back brews, and honestly, no one at the club seems to care. The show ended up being a ton of fun. Everyone was singing along and having a jolly old time (again, drunk). Our set was cut short, and the sound probably sucked, but does that really matter in the end? We were there. S-X-S-W-2-0-1-0. Honestly, its moments like these that remind me why we push our way through all the madness and play SXSW: free beer.

Morning Benders' Diary Day 2
Morning Benders' Diary, Day 1

Above: Morning Benders guitar player Jon Chu, possibly hungover.

Look for fireworks tonight at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens. That's where accused plagiarist Gerald Posner will be confronted by Frank Owen at a reading from Posner's book Miami Babylon. Following a string of accusations of plagiarism, Posner was dismissed from the Daily Beast after Slate, the Miami Herald and other publications found passages of their stories lifted by Posner. The latest example comes from Clubland, Owen's book about mobster and Madonna crony Chris Paciello's rise and fall in New York and Miami. Owen, a noted investigative journalist, was a long-time contributor to the Village Voice and currently writes for Playboy. I contacted him about Posner and this is what he said:

"The latest news is that Posner is going to read from Miami Babylon at the Miami Beach Botanical Gardens tonight which is only a couple of blocks from my apartment. I will be there, of course. Posner says he's going to apologize for 'inadvertently' plagiarizing Clubland. I'm gonna call him on his bullshit. Eight instances of plagiarism -- several of them whole paragraphs -- plus five stolen quotes. is not 'inadvertent.' Posner first tried to blame a Miami Beach policeman he interviewed about Paciello. He claimed the policeman had read Clubland and must have repeated quotes from the book to Posner and that's how bits of my book ended up in his book. Yeah, right? Then he tried to blame his wife Trisha and his two assistants who helped him on the book. Real classy. Blame the help. Now he's blaming a new system of 'trailing footnotes' he instigated for Miami Babylon. This is bullshit beyond belief. He's delusional if he thinks anybody buys this nonsense."

Though "The Allure of the Automobile" at the High Museum of Art Atlanta offers a new perspective on the exquisite contours of rare 20th century classic automobiles, the exhibit features automobiles as a work of decorative art -- the way car enthusiasts have always seen them. 

The 18 cars selected for the exhibit expand on former Museum of Modern of Art curator Arthur Drexler's premise for the 1951 MoMA show "Eight Automobiles." As Drexler said, "Automobiles are hollow, rolling sculpture. They have interior spaces corresponding to an outer form, like buildings, but the designer's aesthetic purpose is to enclose the functioning parts of an automobile, as well as its passengers, in a package suggesting directed movement along the ground."

"Allure of the Automobile" takes this concept further with a retrospective glance at the defining era of coach building. Cars are divided into pre and post-World War II designs, including American makes like the the 1934 Packard and the 1954 Dodge Firearrow, and European makes, like the 1937 Delage D8-120s and the 1938/39 Porsche Type 64. The exhibit marks the first time the one-of-a-kind Porsche Type 64 shell has left Germany.

Ron Labaco, High's curator of decorative art and design, says the museum has never featured automobiles before, but the show has allowed him to find many parallels between the car and art world. "It's about what denotes a car as a masterpiece," said Labaco. "It's a direct connection between decorative arts. You can compare them with Faberge Eggs."

The Allure of the Automobile opens to the public Mar.21 and runs through June 20, 2010.

For more of Tamara's cool car-related musings, check out her website, gotryke.com

The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, a treasure trove for mystery lovers, is out on DVD. This elegant box set of 17 tales based on stories and novels by the acclaimed mystery writer Ruth Rendell aims to please. Rendell was accomplished at police procedurals like her Detective Inspector Wexford series, but her short stories reflected more of a psychological nature than a who-done-it. These have been elegantly transformed into many dramas made for British TV. And what casts! Featuring the excellent George Baker as her irascible Inspector Wexford, not to mention stellar dramatic turns by Colin Firth (A Single Man), James D'Arcy (Mansfield Park), Susannah York (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?), and others. What's fascinating is the subtle twists and turns these stories take, not to mention the levels of emotional complexity. This is like a giant box of chocolates for me -- I have to pace myself not to watch them one after another. But fortunately you don't have to show such restraint with this marvelous set.

We here at PAPER are tickled pink to announce that our very own co-founder Kim Hastreiter will be receiving a Eugenia Sheppard Award at this year's CFDA Fashion Awards in June. The award recognizes fashion journalists "whose exceptional creativity has shaped fashion visually." Previous winners have included Robin Givhan, Bruce Weber, Cathy Horyn and Andre Leon Talley. 

Kim's reaction to the award might best be summed up by the OMG necklace she wore to the announcement of the awards. She says, "I never expect to win anything so it's surprising but flattering that people would be interested in my sideways take on fashion." Kim calls herself an enthusiast of creativity, design and rule-breaking. "I think there's amazing talent out there." This recognition inspires Kim to continue showcasing the great talents of the fashion world in PAPER Magazine and papermag.com 

Kim was "discovered' by photographer Bill Cunningham when she was an artist working at a clothing store to make extra money. Cunningham admired her style and suggested her for a job at the SoHo Weekly News. It was there that Kim met David Hershkovits with whom she would launch PAPER Magazine in 1984. PAPER's mission from the start was to shine a light on the under-appreciated talents of the downtown style and art scene. Kim's coverage of young talents like Isabel Toledo, Marc Jacobs and Isaac Mizrahi made PAPER a must-read publication for fashion addicts everywhere. 

Over the years Kim has curated a cavalcade of PAPER style events including a three-day showcase of young talents in Bryant Park entitled the Lab, Launch Pad and Lounge (which featured such designers as Geoffrey Beene and Rick Owens); the PAPER Project Series at Deitch Gallery; the $99 Store at Art Basel; and the Fashion Mobile, a day of outreach for young designers to show PAPER editors their wares. The first installment attracted hundreds of hopefuls including Doo.ri and Jeremy Scott. In 1995, PAPER launched its website papermag.com and Kim's style coverage reached a new global audience -- winning a Webby Award for Best Fashion Site.

Congrats, Kim!
 

A flock of New York's finest scenesters gathered at Greenwich Village hangout 10 Downing Monday to celebrate Cole Haan's latest ad campaign, which was shot by photographer and online design fixture Todd Selby. Selby and Cole Haan's campaign, "The Inspired Life,"  debuted this month with a full-force marketing attack ranging from the usual glossy placements to huge billboards. Chances are, if you've been running around town and don't live under a rock, you have seen these shots. Like his personal work, the campaign features a handpicked crop of tastemakers, including Moses Berkson, Nicola Vassel, Johnny Knapp and Maria Sharapova, in their natural habitats (i.e., offices, ateliers, apartments) sporting some of Cole Haan's freshest offerings. Potent drinks, specially created for the event by Macao Trading Co.'s wizard mixologist Rob Kreuger, and the fine tuned mixes pumped out by DJ (and "Inspired Life" model) Harley Viera-Newton kept the room in full swing. Among the spirited revelers, I spotted PR extraordinaire Bonnie Morrison, PAPER's own Mickey Boardman and Peter Davis, fashion writer and style icon Lynn Yaeger, Anne and Ferebee Taube, Jean-Marc Houmard, Derek Blasberg and fashion blogger Bryanboy, all of whom were quick to snag the hefty goodie bags filled with the brand's spring accessories. Not a bad way to jump start the week.

Photos by Liz Brown

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day 2010 we'd like to point out two Patricks currently living the dream on Broadway; Patrick Heusinger and Patrick Breen, who are currently starring in the new play Next Fall, backed by super-producer Elton John, which opened last week to rave reviews. The two Patricks play boyfriends with different religious ideologies in the funny -- yet heartbreaking -- first play by Naked Angel's artistic director Geoffrey Nauffts. Today's a Wednesday which means you have two chances to catch the Patricks doing their thing at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. 

Here's are the Paddys looking happy in a scene from Next Fall. Heusinger is on the couch. Breen is laying on him. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

1. Someone is selling terrifying(ly cute) Conan O'Brien leprechaun dolls on Etsy!

2. Williamsburg's Huckleberry Bar is celebrating St. Patrick's Day tonight by offering flights of four Irish Whiskeys and a Guinness for $20.

3. While Disney was pumping out huge blockbusters like Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Little Mermaid and Aladdin in the late '80s and early '90s, Roy Disney, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and Michael Eisner weren't conducting themselves like Disney Princes behind the scenes. Tongiht, BAMcinématek screens documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty, at the office tensions between the three Disney executives.

5. Happy St. Petrick's Day!

6. Before heading off to film the next season of Jersey Shore, JWOWW is making a final NYC appearance tomorrow night (208 E. 58th St., 7 p.m.) to promote something called "Plastic Surgeon in a Jar." The event is private, but if you show up bearing ham cold cuts and water, you just might get in.

7. Here's Tina Fey's daughter, Alice, doing an adorable photo bomb.

8. Did you talk through most of the Academy Awards? The IFC Center is screening all of this year's second-tier (but not second best) categories through out the week. Tonight, catch all of 2010's nominated short films, including winner The New Tenants.

To call Torrisi Italian Specialties an Italian deli is like saying Dean & Deluca is a grocery store. Sure, they make a mean Italian hero -- with four, yes, four kinds of meat: pepperoni, ham, Genoa salami, and sopressata ($9) -- but the two guys behind the NoLIta nook have the knife skills to do much more. Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone, alums of Café Boulud, set out to re-invent low-maintenance, Americanized boot-country food, but they didn't turn to fancy foodstuffs and preparations, they looked to made-in-the-U.S.A. ingredients. The resulting restaurant, its walls lined with low-brow finds like Manhattan Special Espresso Coffee Soda and Parisi Bakery bread, serves utterly familiar food in its most perfect form: The roasted cauliflower with Progresso breadcrumbs ($3 per 1/4 lb.) is dotted with a hearty helping of rosemary, a mixed mushroom salad has the ideal Katz vinegar kick ($4 per 1/4 lb.), and the house-roasted turkey sandwich ($7 and up) is more flavorful than anything you've ever ordered at a deli counter, especially when you ask for it spicy. Though the tucked-away spot started off with just breakfast and lunch, it officially kicked off dinner service on March 9, with a nightly $45 five-course prix fixe (think chicken liver-stuffed ravioli and grapefruit Italian ice) that will leave you enough money for a Vena Cava dress -- if you can still fit into it after gorging on garlic bread, that is.

Torrisi Italian Specialties
250 Mulberry St.
(212) 965-0955
piginahat.com

PAPERMAG couldn't make it to Austin for SXSW this year, so we're living vicariously through much-buzzed-about Berkeley indie-pop band the Morning Benders. Currently touring in support of their just-released album, Big Echo, they're playing six shows in three days at the festival. Frontman Christopher Chu has been keeping us updated on their adventures and here, tells tale of a run-in with some Chicken Fries. 

Tried to make it to Austin in one day from Birmingham but stopped too many times to try and find decent food. Our first attempt was a Chinese restaurant that didn't exist, despite our GPS' constant nagging to "MAKE A U-TURN." Second attempt was a food court. They had a Subway and some place that served Chicken Fingers with a side of Chicken Fries. We aren't vegetarians but that shit just wasn't happening. We ended up at a place called Don Juanz. And wouldn't ya know, it happened to be TACO TUESDAY at Don Juanz. That's FATE y'all. We were rewarded for our patience and hard work with some pretty boring tacos, but at least they were $1.50. (PS: SXSW starts today so maybe we'll write something about music at some point soon....)

The Morning Benders' Diary, Day 1

Great news for fans of Melissa Plastic Dreams, the popular Brazilian shoe brand that specializes in sustainable plastic designs. You can now shop their full range of colorful spring styles at the company's first NYC pop-up. Kaight, the charming eco-chic boutique on the Lower East Side, is hosting a one-month installation with all the latest and greatest looks from Melissa, including a sneak peak at their upcoming men's line M.Zero. 

Melissa has manufactured over 50 million pairs of shoes in the past 25 years, gaining fame for collabs with creative heavyweights like fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, furniture makers Fernando and Humberto Campana, and winning architect Zaha Hadid.  The company's most remarkable aspect, though, might be their patented plastic formula.  It's odorless, neutral, non-toxic, totally recyclable -- and crazy comfortable, to boot!! 

The Kaight + Melissa Pop-up features this season's sandals, flats, high heels, kitten heels, and rainboots -- running the gamut from darling to dangerously sexy. The Vivienne Westwood ankle booties with bowties are a sweet approach to April showers (full length wellies are o-vuh, by the way), and the Campana Corralas rock with opaque tights or without -- perfect for transitional spring weather. 

Prices for these shiny versatile shoes range between $50-150.  The pop-up is scheduled through mid-April, but if last week's opening party is any indication of Melissa's Big Apple appeal, you best shake a lamb's tail!

Kaight + Melissa Pop-Up
83 Orchard St.
(212) 680-5630
kaightshop.com

Photos by Rebecca Prusinowski and courtesy of Kaight

Mr. Mickey LOVES the Irish and has never met a more fun and hospitable bunch than he did when visiting Dublin. This welcome spirit, however, is lacking in the yearly New York City St. Patrick's Day Parade where gay and lesbian Irish groups continue to be banned from the parade on the flimsy grounds that it's a religious event and the parade stops in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral. New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn, who is openly lesbian, marches in the Dublin parade which welcomes the gays. My response is: Fuck You, Parade Organizers. What kind of homophobic bullshit is this? It takes what could be a positive celebration of Irish pride and turns it into a divisive headache that leaves a bad taste in the mouths of people who support equality for all. That's our editorial for the day!

We were delighted, stoked and down-right proud to hear this morning that F.O.P. (Friend of PAPERMAG) Lena Dunham's wonderful feature film Tiny Furniture took home the narrative jury prize at this year's South by Southwest Film Festival! The movie, written and directed by Dunham, also stars Dunham as a 22-year-old recent college grad named Aura who moves home to her mom's loft in Tribeca where she struggles with being direction-less, boyfriend-less and occasionally pants-less. It's a subtle and hilarious take on being young and weird in New York. "This is a movie about a girl with a pot belly, whining," Dunham said at the award ceremony, "So I am amazed and happy that the jury took to it." Here, here!

My favorite post-disco spaced-out, funked-up duo Koko Dozo (producer/composer Polarity 1 and singer Amy Douglas) have a new EP, Feel the Zuzz, dropping on March 23rd on Red Star Records, run by Marty Thau who was the original manager of the New York Dolls. I asked Douglas to explain the album's freaky, otherworldly sound. "If illegal space aliens was all self exploration and had a cool feel to it, Feel The Zuzz is all about heat," Douglas tells me.  "We've been here on Earth a while now, and we like to party, and when we do, we like to party in hot weather cities, from the barrio to the beaches, so you could say it's hot weather vacation beach party music, it's the ultimate urban hot weather album, so if you're ready to sizzle in Rio, Miami, Hamptons, Lagos or Kingston, this EP should be in your iPod." Meanwhile, tunes like "Lay That Body Down" and "Bastards in Bazbador" sound amazing on the pavement of the Lower East Side too.

Out now on DVD is Mystery Science Theater 3000, Volume XVII (Shout Factory), another hilarious collection of episodes from the wildly popular cult TV show about a stranded astronaut (either played by Mike Nelson or Joel Hodgsen) and his robot friends forced to watch a bunch of bad movies in space. Their wisecracks are a dizzying bunch of cultural references, and repeated viewings only add more laughs. This volume includes their first episode The Crawling Eye -- actually a very decent sci-fi film starring Forrest Tucker fighting one-eyed monsters hiding in clouds in the Trollenberg mountains. The goofy asides are pretty uneven here. The Beatniks, about the rise of a pop singer named Eddie Crane who can't shake his juvenile delinquent friends, fares better. With bad ballads and priceless overacting this lends itself to jokes easily. The Blood Waters Of Dr. Z is a low budget Florida-made mess about a loony scientist who transforms himself into a fish monster. The rubber-suit alone is riotous enough but the wisecracks here soar. The best episode is The Final Sacrifice, a dreadful Canadian film about young Troy, the son of an archeologist, who is chased by muscle-bound hooded satanists because he has a secret map to a secret underground city. He falls in with a mullet-haired, mustached, hard-drinking, schlub named Zap Rowsdower in a beat-up truck and they both fight the devil-worshipers. This is fall-out-of-your-chair nonstop laughs.

The East Side Social Club has put midtown on the social map. Euan Rellie, Minnie Mortimer, Debbie Bancroft have all thrown parties there and celeb sightings include Brooke Shields, Rie Rasmussen, Chelsea Handler and -- in keeping with the joint's mafia hangout vibe -- Dominic "Junior" Chianese. It also helps that an investor is social starmaker/photographer Patrick McMullan and that owner Billy Gilroy's son Devon is the hot-looking, tatted-up chef in the kitchen. "The menu is urban Italian," Devon tells me. "This attracts a hip foodie set." I wondered if Devon's inked up arms included any food-based tattoos. "My first tattoo was done when I was seventeen at my friends shop in Flushing, Queens of a tamoe on my left wrist. I decided after that I would be definitely getting more tattoos and I didn't want to have lots of little ones that don't make much sense when combined. I opted to have two sleeves planned out by Mark Harada at East Side Ink on the Lower East Side. These tattoos have really nothing to do with cooking, just my appreciation for tattoo and Japanese folk lore." And who doesn't appreciate a sexy chef covered in ink? 

What's your name? Dr. Louise
Why are you a doctor? My parents thought "Dr. Louise" was a hilarious name for a cat. 
How old are you? 5
Where do you live? Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Who do you live with? My mom and dad
What are your pastimes? Sleeping in the sun, stealing eyeliner pencils out of cosmetics bags and batting them under the couch, spying on birds out the window, sadly watching people eat food I'm not allowed to have, going crazy on my cat toys, and looking at PAPER's fashion spreads in my kitty condo.
What's your favorite cover of PAPER?  I love R&B and pop, and was really pleased to see Mariah Carey on your December 2009/January 2010 cover. I thought she was great in Precious and admire that she can grow fur on her upper lip.

Want to see your pet on PAPER? Submit a photo/photos, plus answers to the above questions, to vip@papermag.com.

1. After eleven long dormant years, the all-ladies music festival Lilith Fair is back. Today, tour dates and lineups (Gossip! Cat Power! Loretta Lynn! Heart!) were announced for eight lucky cities. Tickets go on sale March 27th.  [LilithFair]

2. Williamsburg is quickly becoming Delish Central. [BrooklynBased]

3. No Bra, a/k/a the electro-pop act of Susanne Oberbeck (who you can look forward to reading about in PAPER's next issue), is performing at Glasslands tonight with Blush Response. There's also an open Absinthe bar from 9 to 9: 30 p.m., which is always a bad idea. [Glasslands]

4. Barry and Robin Gibb, who Jimmy Fallon lampooned with Justin Timberlake on his SNL sketch "The Barry Gibb Talk Show," are appearing on the Jimmy Fallon Show tonight! Get ready for a J-Timb walk-on in 3, 2,1....

5. LIFE magazine has put together a series of slide shows highlighting some of their stranger photo pieces over time. Behold, 1940s fashions modeled by a squirrel named Tommy Tucker. It's like ye olde CuteOverload.com! [Life]

6. Snoop Dogg's new album More Malice comes out March 23rd, and he's tacking on a 40 minute movie with the album in which her plays a superhero trying to save his city. Watch the preview for Malice N Wonderland The Movie on MySpace today.

7. Speaking of previews, the "book trailer" for the prequel to Steve Hokensmith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, has arrived to annoy your mom even more. [Buzzfeed]

Anytime an event is heralded by live bagpipes, you know you're in for something spectacular. Such was the case when American Cinematheque and Flux hosted an advance screening of the White Stripes documentary Under Great White Northern Lights at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. Shot mainly on black and white 16 mm film, Emmet Malloy's feature is a fascinating and voyeuristic peek inside the inner workings of a band that's been described as "more real and more fake than any other American rock band". It chronicles Jack and Meg White's epic cross-country Canadian during the summer of 2007 and features intimate interviews intercut with sparse performances in run-down diners and endless miles of frozen tundra. The White Stripes have officially canceled their upcoming fall U.S tour, but fans can get the next best thing with this visually arresting and stirring piece of work. Under Great White Northern Lights will be officially released on March 16th.

PAPERMAG couldn't make it to Austin for SXSW this year, so we're living vicariously through much-buzzed-about Berkeley indie-pop band the Morning Benders. Currently touring in support of their just-released album, Big Echo, they're about to play six shows in three days at the festival. Here frontman Christopher Chu tells us about the beverages and cinematic gems the Morning Benders are relying on to get them through the madness.

Waking up in Birmingham Alabama, and thinking about how the same time tomorrow we'll be in Austin, deep in it. Deep in the Chaos. They call it Chaos with a capital C, that's on purpose. That's the truth. Some men never come back from that place. Some men lose themselves before they even find it.......... "Just try not to focus on the pain." Pounding Gatorade right now, a final attempt to hold on to life as we know it,.....as we knew it. Trying to stay sane. My brother just bought a DVD of Pootie Tang for the van ride.

Out now on DVD, via Criterion, is Lola Montes, Max Ophuls's 1955 masterpiece, fully restored in dazzling color and wide screen splendor. It's about the life of an adventuress and a cabaret dancer, Lola Montes (Martine Carol), whose notorious, purported affairs with composers like Franz Liszt were legendary. Her dalliance with the King of Bavaria caused a revolution and resulted in a handsome student (Oskar Werner) escorting her safely out of the country in the dead of night. The film takes place in a circus with the ringmaster (Peter Ustinov) showing his audience the highlights from Lola's scandalous life -- with Lola in the center ring. Filled with Ophuls's trademark amazing tracking shots (just watch the scene where the King asks for a needle and thread and you'll be dumbfounded at the camera movement). The restoration is exquisite and the extras (including a fascinating French TV episode in which Ophuls's collaborators lovingly discuss the director and his films).  

1. Starting today through March 25th, 175 Brooklyn restaurants are offering pre-fix, three-course $20 lunches and $25 dinners as part of Dine in Brooklyn. Find out who's participating here.

2. Seals have usurped photo bombing from squirrels! [Cuteoverload]

3. Comedy Central announced today that former Saturday Night Live cast members Horatio Sanz and Chris Parnell are joining the cast of a new untitled sitcom starring Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder. As long as Chris Parnell continues to pop up on 30 Rock as Dr. Spaceman, we're happy.

4. The Stooges will be inducted into the Rock 'N' Roll hall of fame today by Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. The band will join fellow inductees Genesis, ABBA, and the Hollies for a likely very strange jam session at the end of the ceremony. [Detroit Free Press via The Daily Swarm]

5. Comedian Jon Glaser is trying to get this frightening car made by Toyota.

6. Decompress from Monday with dreamy indie-pop from the Depreciation Guild, featuring members from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, at Santos Party House tonight. [Santos]

7. Jesus, Mary and Joseph! There's a shamrock shortage in Ireland. [IrishCentral.com]

Lorreta Lynn biopic Coal Miner's Daughter has always been a favorite of Mr. Mickey's and today he just felt like sharing this video. It features Sissy Spacek as Loretta making her honkytonk debut singing the Patsy Cline hit "There He Goes." Enjoy!

Welcome to our recently resurrected PAPERMAG feature "Intern-al" Affairs, wherein we introduce you to our wonderful spring 2010 magazine, editorial, production and PAPER TV interns. They're hard working, always look snazzy, and are vital helps to the daily operations at PAPER and PAPERMAG.com. Without further ado, get to know magazine intern Cara Boyd. 


Name: Cara Boyd

Age:18

Hometown: Providence, RI

What do you do at PAPER?
Go on garment runs, make Excel sheets, sweat, organize, sweat, and loiter around [PAPER receptionist] Brittaney's desk.

What are you studying?
Photography, media, and philosophy

What's the last book you read, movie you saw, song you downloaded, website you visited and item of clothing you bought?
Book: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers. Right now I'm working on Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges.
Movie: The Fall was the last one I finished, but I'm in the middle of You, the Living.
Song: "Norway" by Beach House
Wesbite: Artistadvocacy.com
Clothes: A Double Dare t-shirt, super-cute floral tights from Anthropologie, and a black and white dress by Silence&Noise (with pockets!!1!!1#)

If you could have dinner with one person, who would it be?
I'd have a pot-luck with Nelson Mandela, Pablo Casals, David Cross, James Joyce and my grandma.

Describe your perfect night in New York City?
Oh golly, I don't know! There have already been a lot of great ones. A perfect night would be probably just hanging out with friends, dinner at the Breslin, maybe going to a show and oh, I don't know, running into Jude Law. That'd be cool. Just sayin'.

Friday night's "Live Large Baby!," a series of distinctive performance art pieces by emerging artist Jeffery Byrd, Steve Vanoni, and Chen Jin, lived up to its exuberant title. By night's end the audience that crowded into Bedford Stuyvesant's Grace Exhibition Space -- a colorful bunch that included suit-clad college boys, hip-hop wannabes, and a woman wearing a Viking helmet -- had experienced an evening that included raw eggs, tap dancing, accordion playing, confetti, an indoor bike race, and artist Coral Short eating huge mouthfuls of screws and feathers. Live large indeed. Whether you're in search of an adventure, art, free wine and beer, someone to date, or all the above, take the J train to Bedford Stuyvesant for one of Grace Exhibition Space's dizzying shows. And remember to think big.

This Saturday March 20th, style maven Mary Alice Stephenson is hosting Planet Awesome at Milk Gallery, an action-packed afternoon for kids with the Sartoriliast for youngsters, Planet Awesome Kid. Proceeds benefit Global Action for Children, a fave charity of super-mom Angelina Jolie. Kids entering the wild world created for Planet Awesome get to breakdance to DJ tunes, tag up graffiti with artist Aero and participate in a fashion photo shoot -- all things I would love to do on a Saturday afternoon and I'm only a few years older than 10!

The Vengeance Trilogy Box Set (PalisadesTartan) is a thrilling collection of three brilliant films by South Korean master filmmaker Park Chan-Wook. Included are:
  
Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance: When the sister of a deaf factory worker named Ryu -- played by Ha-Kyan Shin (Thirst) -- falls ill and is in need of a kidney transplant, he foolhardily kidnaps the daughter of his former boss for a ransom (to pay for the operation). Everything ultimately spins out of control in this masterful tale of fatal retribution, the first in his Vengeance trilogy

Old Boy. Winner of the 2004 grand prize at the Cannes film festival, this brutal, wildly cinematic, Kafkaesque thriller stars Choi Ming-Shik as Oh Dae-su, a loudmouthed drunk, who gets abducted one night and finds himself imprisoned in a strange impregnable room for 15 years. When he just as mysteriously finds himself freed, he seeks spectacular revenge on the person responsible with the help of a lovely young sushi chef (Gang Hye-Jeong). It's like a Charles Bronson film filtered through Quentin Tarantino's sensibility. Whether he's chomping on live octopus or fending off a hallway of attackers with the claw end of a hammer, Choi Ming-Shik gives an astonishing, raw, mesmerizing, performance. 

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One of the highlights of Paris Fashion Week for MM was spending some time in the window of Colette where NY photographer the Selby had recreated his bedroom and was signing copies of his new book. He asked Mr. M to come help do consultations with people who brought in photos of their homes. It was a weekend, and Colette on a Saturday is a parade of the cute, the stylish and the fashion-crazed. Lynn Yaeger came to interview the Selby for Vogue.com and Maria Shriver was outside (MM had to accost her and say he follows her on Twitter and that she's an inspiration. Maria was a pussycat). Mr. M made a "Kiss Me" sign and actually got lots of takers including model Anouck Lepere! Erin Wasson also joined us us in the window for a while and started a massage chain! It was a very New York-meets-LA- and-flies-to-Paris kind of mayhem and it was magic!!!!