Friday, May 9
GIVE A SHOUT TO WORD UP! wordup@papermag.com
Physicist Hottie Nima Arkani-Hamed To Explore 11th Dimension
By Ann Magnuson
Posted May. 9, 2008, 12:14 a.m. PT
One of today's lead stories on CNN.com is on handsome particle physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed and Switzerland's Large Hadron Collider . According to the story, if the multi-billion dollar collider is successful, it "may change ideas of spacetime for the first time since Einstein." Of course, some people also think that the particle collision that is slated to occur this fall (in an experiment that National Geographic calls "the hunt for the God particle") could also create a black hole and swallow the earth and our own galaxy up in the process. Fascinating, as Mr. Spock would say. All the more so since it was just yesterday I was watching a slew of YouTube videos on string theory and M-theory. This Ten Dimensions video posted below was one of my faves.
Klaus Nomi Tribute at Tel Aviv's Glamourama
By Ann Magnuson
Posted May. 5, 2008, 2:26 p.m. PT
Many thanks to my MySpace pal Marcoshark for sending me this tribute to the legendary Klaus Nomi. It definitely is helping make this Monday a happy one. (Can Glamourama finally bring peace to the Middle East? We can only hope!)
Dan Attoe at Peres Projects BERLIN
By Ann Magnuson
Posted May. 5, 2008, 6:30 a.m. PT
One of my favorite young artists, Dan Attoe, has two shows opening this month. First up is the American painter's second Berlin solo show at Peres Projects BERLIN which opened over the weekend. The exhibition, called "Simple Thoughts and Complicated Animals," features new works in painting and mixed media sculpture and runs from May 2 until June 21.
Attoe's second show this month, "American Dreams" opens at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León, MUSAC in Leon, Spain and will be on view from May 17 – July 6, 2008.
The Phoenix Lights Are Back! In Arizona AND Florida! UFOs?
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Apr. 22, 2008, 10:54 a.m. PT
The infamous Phoenix Lights are back and they aren't just doing their wacky orb formations over Arizona they are in Florida as well! Are these UFOs or secret military maneuvers? The F-117 Stealth bomber has just been stealthily retired. Perhaps to make way for new technology currently being tested? Or are the Chinese implementing Phase 2 of the Takeover now that all the everyday goods needed for a successful invasion have been stocked in Wal-Marts and Targets across the country? Many of us hope for the first explanation, if for no other reason than to get something on the news other than the Obama/Clinton feud. At least former Republican Arizona governor Fife Symington finally admitted to seeing The Phoenix Lights in 1997 and that it was, most likely, something 'otherworldly'. (See video below. Every press conference should include someone in an alien costume!)
RIP B-I-N-G-O
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Apr. 22, 2008, 7:51 a.m. PT
L.A. Weekly columnist Seven McDonald wrote a wonderful eulogy to everyone's favorite dachshund, the recently deceased Bingo. Anyone who had spent any quality time in Silver Lake's Sunset Junction area -- or even just a fleeting moment -- fell in love with the bacon-loving Bingo. (Bingo was given one of L.A. Woman' s Choice People Awards in 2007 as he brightened our days as much as any two-legged, life-loving Angeleno!)
Officially the charge of Sarah Dale, proprietor of the hipster boutique Pull My Daisy, Bingo soon became everyone's beloved pet (especially if you fed him bacon from the once packed, now-closed EAT WELL restaurant next door!) Sadly, Bingo was getting older and his judgment must have been impaired the day he darted into the street. His death was quick but his memory will last as long as those of us who adopted Bingo are still eating bacon (now the tempeh variety down the steet at the popular new vegan hang-out Flore).
English Russia Presents The Apocalypse, Russian Style
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Apr. 15, 2008, 12:00 a.m. PT
English Russia has been one of my favorite websites ever since POPBITCH introduced me to it via their snark-a-thon newsletter. (They lured me in with the link to the exotic pet owners who kept a Siberian tiger in their tiny Soviet block apartment. I particularly liked when they fed the kitty live chickens in the living room and huge live catfish in the bathtub!) When you've had it up to your democratic jackass with the primary or feel a little wobbly about the increasingly wobbly state of our U.S. economy then check out what is happening in Mother Russia! You'll get a few laughs and just maybe a much-need shot of gratitude. I LOVE these conceptual images by Russian artists who envision The Motherland post-U.S. preemptive strike. Hey, looks like a Chuck Heston flick!
Charlton Heston: Alpha Male/Omega Man
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Apr. 8, 2008, 10:27 a.m. PT
I very much enjoyed Carina (The New Pauline Kael!) Chocano's article on recently deceased movie legend Charlton Heston that appeared today's L.A. Times. A grand assessment of Heston's heroic old-school grandiosity, the piece also painted an evocative picture of what movie-going used to be -- grand events in even grander movie palaces. In other words, it was the multiplexes that got small (no doubt shrunk to fit the caliber of movie stars). But I have to say, I was disappointed that the L.A. Times obit of Heston did not mention one of my favorite childhood movies, The Omega Man. (Clips above and below -- good stuff.)
Moby Is Mystery Guest as NYC Embraces J. Keith van Straaten's What's My Line?
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Apr. 3, 2008, 9:29 p.m. PT
This past Monday night, Moby left the taping of Conan O'Brien just in time to make a surprise appearance as the Mystery Guest on "What's My Line? - Live On Stage" (now appearing at the 199-seat Barrow Street Theatre). As Fiona Apple looked on from the audience, her boyfriend (author Jonathan Ames) led the panel in guessing Moby's identity. J. Keith van Straaten, host of the stage adaptation of the classic TV show, could barely get Moby to say a word about his new CD, Last Night, which dropped the next day. The shiny-headed musician preferred telling cautionary tales of mixing business with ex-girlfriends!
Tseng Kwong Chi Opening at Paul Kasmin in NYC Tonight!
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Apr. 2, 2008, 1:59 p.m. PT
If I were in NYC I'd be at Paul Kasmin Gallery tonight when the resurrection of the late, great photographer Tseng Kwong Chi begins! (If you have PAPER's March issue laying around read my L.A. Woman column for the inside scoop!) Kwong was a dear friend of mine during the glory days of Downtown NYC and we shared a lot of laughs (and tears) from 1979 until his untimely death from AIDS in 1990. According to the gallery's press release, the show will be "a comprehensive survey of Tseng’s pioneering series of self-portraits featuring 100 large-scale, black-and-white photographs, some of which will be on view for the first time."
Kwong Chi had a magnificent eye and an equally magnificent sense of humor. Dressed in a vintage Communist Mao suit he would insinuate himself into iconic American (and worldwide) landscapes creating arresting tableaux that are simultaneously ironic and beautiful. Check 'em out! (And try to make the opening which I'm told will be a scene reminiscent of the good ole daze. I'm so bummed I can't be there! But I'll just commune with Kwong's delightful spirit here on the left coast, somewhere under the Hollywood sign!) FYI to those of you across the pond: the show will also be in London from April 15-May 31 at Ben Brown Fine Arts!
More about the show (which runs until May 3) from the Paul Kasmin Gallery:
T Magazine's Trophy Trips: Talk About Pulling a Geographic!
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Mar. 28, 2008, 1:55 p.m. PT
During my morning internet surf I happily discovered that the New York Times' T Magazine has a new travel issue. Always curious to know what the next Patagonia is I took a looky-loo inside. Voila! A story devoted to the new "Trophy Trips" of the rich and restless. As much as I'd love to ride on the forthcoming Virgin Galactic space jet (gotta wait until I find an extra $200,000 lurking in my portfolio) or go on an Antarctic safari, I'm not sure I want to share the adventure with a bevy of jet-setting braggarts.
To quote T:
The Olympics: No to Chinese Tyranny! Yes to Greek Goddess-Wear!
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Mar. 25, 2008, 1:14 p.m. PT
Like this Slate.com editorialist says, I wonder "Why SHOULDN'T We Boycott the Olympics?" What the Chinese military is up to in TIbet is (and has been since 1951) frightening. And yet the beauty of these Greek Olympic vestal vigins (a bevy of Greek actresses who took place in the lighting of the torch ceremony in Olympia yesterday) reminds us there is something quite beautiful and politically transcendent about the ancient games. Still, we applaud the protest that disrupted the ritual. Not to mention Bjork! And the French! And Prince Charles!
There are many good reasons to attend but perhaps better ones in favor of not, especially this one made in the Slate piece:
Leave Diablo Cody Alone!
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Mar. 7, 2008, 2:14 p.m. PT
I acted opposite the wonderful Tom Lenk in the L.A. premiere of Amy and David Sedaris' play The Book of Liz. Tom played Duncan, the emotionally-fragile, recovering-alcoholic manager of the Pilgrim-themed restaurant that the wayward Amish-ish character of Liz -- moi -- finds employment. We never stopped laughing. (Except when we had to cry... during our emotional farewell scene. A three-hanky weeper!)
I'm happy to see Tom continues to elicit the yuks (and the tears); this time as "Huevo Hickock" in another YouTube extravaganza. I still haven't seen Juno but assume a lot of the pop-cultural poppycock jargon is part of the ex-stripper's Oscar-winning screenplay. Enjoy!
Ayahuasca, The Strange South American Brew to the Stars!
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Feb. 12, 2008, 6:57 a.m. PT
Now that Fashion Week is finally over PAPERMAG can get back to what's really important -- weird new drug crazes! Actually this craze ain't so new. Two Sundays ago the L.A. Times Magazine featured an in-depth article on the magic Amazonian potion Ayahuasca. Affluent Californians and various celebrities have been using the revered jungle hallucinogen as a heavy-duty psychic colonic. This might have been a ground-breaking story if L.A. Woman hadn't written about the same subject FOUR YEARS AGO (in the April 2004 issue, accompanied by the fabulous Norn Cutson illustration above).
R.I.P. Roy Scheider
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Feb. 11, 2008, 12:44 a.m. PT
Roy Scheider has died. Long live Joe Gideon! Mr. Scheider fought killer sharks, French heroin dealers and the U.S. military intervention in Iraq. But it was his turn as Bob Fosse's alter-ego, speed freak choreographer Joe Gideon in the 1979 classic All That Jazz that I will remember him best. Hopefully this wonderful classically-trained actor will be met in Show Biz heaven by long-legged angels in vein-painted spandex unitards!
R.I.P. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Feb. 6, 2008, 11:52 a.m. PT
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the grand guru to the stars of the '60s, has died. The divinely diminutive daeva, who I am told George Lucas used as the model for Yoda, brought Transcendental Meditation to the householders of the world and some of us ex-neurotics are quite grateful for it. Still the question remains... did he really come on to Mia Farrow?
L.A. Woman Off to VA (and Thomas Jefferson's Old Stomping Grounds)
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Jan. 18, 2008, 9:22 p.m. PT
We're taking off for the East Coast again. This time it's to Charlottesville, Virginia, site of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. We'll be away for a while (on family business) but will try to post from the road. Gosh, I sure wish someone like old T.J. was running for President this year. (Minus the slaves, of course.) Who comes even close? Obama? Hillary? Huckabee? Ron -- just who IS he -- Paul? I just hope I get my absentee ballot in the mail before Tsunami Tuesday!
Osama bin Laden's Family Guy Bloopers
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Jan. 17, 2008, 10:29 a.m. PT
Goddamn! This is, as Johnny Carson would say, "funny stuff." Just had to share this after watching it again on the Family Guy website. (And kinda painful if you've ever contributed to your sitcom's 'blooper reel'.) Hey, are they ever gonna find this guy? Or did they finally give up? Or is that what the new Rambo movie is about?
Banksy Does Rambo?
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Jan. 16, 2008, 7:52 a.m. PT
After seeing these Banksy-style posters for Rambo all over hell and creation I wondered, what up? Well, Monday's L.A.Times revealed that, once again, the clever Mr. Tim Palen, marketing whiz at Lion's Gate, is responsible for the campaign. The image (done by Jason Lindeman from Ignition Print) was initially meant for a T-shirt, but Stallone was so taken with the image that the faux-Banksy ended up splattered all over town.
Described by Palen as "Che Guevara meets Jesus," the poster, according to the Times article, "has spawned various street-art retorts, including a competing Rimbaud poster at a public transit stop in San Francisco."
Could Recent UFO Sightings in Texas Mean Real Life Remake of Invaders From Mars?
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Jan. 15, 2008, 11:29 a.m. PT
This story about the recent UFO sightings in Texas reminded me of one of my favorite movies, the original Invaders From Mars. Directed by William Cameron Menzies (the renowned art director who also directed the fantastic Things To Come), this B-movie classic has been called the definitive Cold War paranoia film. I saw it many times as a kid but just on TV -- and only in B&W. Maybe that made the goings-on even that much more disturbing.
Ray Harryhausen and Frank Langella: Sexy Monsters and Super Creeps!
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Jan. 11, 2008, 1:16 p.m. PT
I've recently been asked to contribute to Amy Wallace's next Book of Lists project- one concentrating on the horror film genre. The list I've chosen to compile is Sexy Monsters. Thing is... there are SO MANY to chose from! Especially from Ray Harryhausen's cast of stop action animation characters. I found this phantasmagoric clip while checking out some of my faves on YouTube (Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Ghidorah, Peter O'Toole as Jack (The Ripper) in The Ruling Class and Frank Langella as -- no not Dracula, although he was dreamy as the seductive Count -- but as the narcissitic sex fiend in "Diary of a Mad Housewife". Don't believe me? Watch the clip below.)
Ersatz Axl Rose Lives and Lets Mommie Dearest Die (For Our Sins)
By Ann Magnuson
Posted Jan. 11, 2008, 8:12 a.m. PT
While looking for a suitable link to Traumatized Inner Child for the previous "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" post I came across this nugget and just felt it deserved it's own moment in the spotlight. People really are deliciously nuts out there!
(I recently read about Joan Crawford's abusive Dickensian upbringing and the saying "Hurt People Hurt People" certainly rings true in her case. Also -- I think Faye Dunaway did a superb job in that movie. There is no 'over the top' when it comes to Crawford's story. I say quit apologizing!)