Fashion Fools Us............

New Blog in Town........

2010-02-21T04:52:00.000-08:00

BLOG

Paper House's Flicker Page.........

2010-02-21T04:47:00.000-08:00

CLICK ON IMAGES

2010-02-21T04:46:00.001-08:00

Blurred......!

2010-02-21T04:43:00.000-08:00

Making of the 2010 Pirelli Calendar by T R.....

2010-02-21T04:42:00.000-08:00

WE'RE BACK.......

2010-02-13T17:35:00.000-08:00

We’re back!!!! Thank you soo much to everyone who contributed financially, morally, or otherwise. I can’t believe how many of you reached out to hold us down.

Thanks to JASON JINX, without who’s insane donation, Accord NY would not be possible. Huge thanks also to MAY REDDING who kills it with the City Crash Pad when we're in NYC… big bottle of 18 year scotch coming your way REDDING. That being said, enjoy.

Time......

2009-12-23T06:08:00.000-08:00

I'm not Cleaning after you......

2009-12-20T10:31:00.001-08:00

I've been super busy hunting.....

2009-12-07T05:09:00.000-08:00

JJJJOUND.COM

.............

2009-12-07T05:06:00.000-08:00

Scan Processor Studies.......

2009-12-01T10:45:00.001-08:00

It’s kinda hard to describe the video above, but imagine Peter Saville’s cover for Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures being animated by Chris Cunningham, a frenzy of white lines on a black background. Well, that’s the first part of this video which in itself is only 8 minutes of a 45 minute video. The video was created by Woody Vasulka and Brian O’Reilly who used a Rutt-Era Scan Processor from the 70’s, which was then further manipulated by a computer. The effect is bizarre and amazing, creating shapes and patterns that seem totally unnatural.

**Rutt-Era Scan Processor

Human Cannonballers...........

2009-11-22T17:27:00.000-08:00

Questions that have bedeviled legions of circus-goers and carnival connoisseurs: why doesn’t the gunpowder kill the Cannonballer before they exit the cannon? Do my eyes deceive me? And how can I break into the fast-growing field of human Cannonballing? Patience, my friends. All in good time.

The “cannons” used by human Cannonballers are actually giant catapults, and the smoke and explosions produced are just for show. The first human catapult act was performed in 1877, by a girl who was only 14 years old, using “elastic springs” to turn her into a living projectile. (She later went on to tour with P.T. Barnum.) The technology has changed a bit in recent years but the idea is the same: once a Cannonballer clambers into his cannon, he stands on a platform about three-quarters of the way down the barrel. High-pressure compressed air is pumped into the chamber left between the platform and the bottom of the barrel, sending the platform to the top of the barrel — and the Cannonballer into the air.

Coming down is the hard part

Actually, plenty of human cannonballers do meet untimely ends on the job, but it’s not usually the coming-out-of-the-cannon part that does it; according to Cecil “Straight Dope” Adams, of the 50 human Cannonballers who’d had careers before the 1990s, 30 of them had been killed — mostly by falling outside of the net. (Like this.) Dummy models are test-fired to help ensure a cannon’s aim and accuracy, but the Cannonballer himself has a big role to play — there’s a bit of mid-air acrobatics involved. You’ve got to turn just right in the air to ensure you land on your back rather than your neck.

The job’s not for everyone

First of all, the pay’s not great. Then there’s the reality of having to live and travel with a circus, the romance of which wears off mighty fast, we’d imagine. Like most strange and unpleasant jobs, it’s often passed on from parent to child: the Smith family, for instance, have been Cannonballers for thirty years, despite the family patriarch’s wish that he’d raised “doctors and lawyers” instead. (We get it: with the liabilities and injuries that come along with human Cannonballing, free consultations from both couldn’t hurt.)

2009-11-18T16:45:00.000-08:00

Upstate Living.........

2009-11-16T07:25:00.000-08:00

Is Factoring Going out of Fashion....

2009-11-16T07:22:00.000-08:00

What is a Factoring Agreement?
Many designers enter into factoring agreements with financial institutions (which we will refer to in this Q and A as “factors”). In simple terms, a typical factoring agreement allows a designer to sell its accounts receivable to a factor that collects such receivables and remits them (minus a discount that the factor keeps) to the designer. Factors that regularly serve the fashion industry are usually quite able to make these collections, as such factors have an experienced network set up to deal with collecting from retailers both on your behalf and on behalf of other designers.

A factor also assumes the credit risk with respect to receivables that have been granted prior credit approval. Factors are able to do this because they have the ability to perform the sophisticated financial analysis necessary to determine the creditworthiness of the retailers you sell to.

Factors may also provide an advance on factored receivables. Such an advance provides many designers with the working capital necessary to pay for the manufacture of goods well in advance of the payment by its customers for such goods.

So far, so good. Is there any downside?

Unfortunately, yes.

First, everything comes at a price. The assumption of credit risk and the advance of receivables both take a bite out of the amount invoiced to your retailers in the form of a percentage fee.

Second, payments to you by the factor for collected receivables or as an advance on outstanding receivables are subject to the factor’s ability to make good on such obligations. The risk of the creditworthiness of a factor has historically been viewed as quite remote, but recent events involving CIT Group have certainly heightened the awareness of such risk.

What is happening with CIT?

CIT is the preeminent factor within the fashion industry. In mid-July, CIT received $3 billion of funding from certain of its bondholders allowing it to barely avert a bankruptcy filing. In early August, CIT invested $1 billion of such funding in its factoring business the “Factoring Business”). Currently, CIT is soliciting the approval by debt holders for a Prepackaged Plan of Reorganization (the “Plan”) under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (the “Code”).

What might a bankruptcy mean to designers for whom CIT factors receivables?

The Plan does not include the Factoring Business in CIT’s bankruptcy proceedings. If the Plan is not approved, CIT has stated that it will liquidate its assets, including the Factoring Business, under Chapter 7 of the Code. In either event, analysts are predicting that the Factoring Business will remain intact, but may not have access to sufficient capital to meet its then-current funding obligations or to enter into new factoring arrangements.

Are other factors subject to risk?

Today it is CIT, but it is certainly possible that the future may find other factors – particularly those affiliated with troubled financial institutions – faced with potential bankruptcy. In addition, certain factors (if so permitted by the factoring agreement with the designer), “re-factor” through CIT. So you may find that your factoring arrangement still exposes you to CIT risk, even though CIT is not a direct party to it.

What does the future hold and what should we do?

The fashion industry will likely continue to need factors as much as it needs sewing machines. They provide an essential service, especially for small and midsized designers. If the Factoring Business, under the stewardship of a post-Plan CIT or a purchaser in liquidation, were to fail and not honor its obligations under its factoring agreements, the fallout could be devastating. But we would not expect such a failure to mean the end of the availability of factors, as factoring is often a valuable and profitable business. In fact, the Factoring Business has been quite profitable – in the estimation of financial analysts, it is CIT’s other businesses and the lack of available credit that is forcing CIT into bankruptcy.

In the end, the best case scenario for the industry is for CIT to (i) keep the Factoring Business outside of the Plan and continue to dedicate sufficient resources to it or (ii) sell the Factoring Business in liquidation to a more financially healthy institution. However, as this might not be what the future has in store for the Factoring Business, designers factoring their receivables with CIT must not only monitor their exposure to CIT, but must also seriously evaluate available means to mitigate the risk of exposure to CIT.

As the factoring agreement governing a designer’s receivables, as well as the myriad of ancillary facts and circumstances surrounding that relationship, are different in each case, it is important for designers to consult with an attorney in order to evaluate all applicable risk mitigation strategies. Alternative arrangements to be considered include moving to a deferred purchase agreement with your existing factor or exploring the possibility or obtaining an insurance product for your receivables.

2009-10-22T16:50:00.001-07:00

Clear heels made a strong showing on the spring 2010 runways. If you're eager to jump on the trend now, Zappos has some options! Our favorite are the "Pleaser USA" style. Description: "Patent pending tip-jar feature has a side slot allowing for cash tips to be inserted into the clear midsole. Accessible from a hidden insole compartment." A customer who bought them for work and loves them suggests: "Make a rule no change allowed b/c it's noisy and falls out while doing tricks on the pole." [Zappos]

100 Films..........

2009-10-19T01:50:00.001-07:00

2009-10-15T16:49:00.000-07:00

BYKENYAN PROPS

Hair for sale.............

2009-10-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

Ralph Cohen, the executive producer of the 1984 Pepsi commercial where Michael Jackson suffered severe burns that would scar him for the rest of his life, is now selling 12 singed strands of the singer's hair he collected.

Ralph said when Michael hair caught fire, he took off his coat to help put the flames out. Apparently, during that process several strands of Michael's hair remained on his coat and he preserved them for 25 years.

The hair, along with a written transcript of Ralph's account of the incident and a color photos of Michael , are set to hit the auction block in London Oct. 17.

Damn...........

2009-10-14T16:20:00.001-07:00

In 2003, ex-Dee-Lite star Kierin Kirby, better known as Lady Miss Kier, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Sega because the main character in the popular video game Space Channel 5 bore a “striking physical similarity and likeness” to her. Kirby sought more than $750,000 in damages for misappropriation of her likeness and claimed, among other things, that the character’s name, Ulala, was a blatant rip-off of one of her signature phrases, “Ooh la la.” Kirby, who burst onto the scene with Dee-Lite in the early 90s with the hit song “Groove Is In The Heart,” had declined a $15,000 offer from Sega three years earlier for the rights to use her image in the game. Sega argued that a version of the game featuring Ulala was released in Japan between 1997 and 1999 and the creators had never heard of Dee-Lite or Lady Miss Kier. Game over. Kirby lost the suit and a later appeal, and she was ordered to pay all of Sega’s legal fees, which totaled more than $600,000. Ooh la la!

The Clock is Ticking.......

2009-10-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

So 2001.......

2009-10-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

Nappy....

2009-10-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

Group Hug Live.........

2009-10-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

Group Hug Live
We've set up a new toy called Group Hug Live. It's a real-time confession site that doesn't require manual refreshing, and also has threaded comments build right in. Check it out. Unlike this site, it will not retain confessions forever, but it will retain them for quite a while. As always, remember that comments can be hurtful.

37242428

It’s been 11 years since I attempted suicide; I was 17 at the time.

Despite everything that I’ve accomplished in the time since, some days I still feel like giving up. Today is one of them.

539300084

i wish cutting was socially acceptable.
i love the way it feels.

639786676

I’m someones Mistress. I never thought I would be the other woman, but here I am. Sigh.

553564244

Steph, babe, I don’t know what to do anymore. I’m so unbelievably indifferent, but, like, not…. you’re amazing, attractive, talented, and popular, but you did something sooooo horrible to me.

Brain says I should hate you, heart says what would be the good?

I’ll always hate Minns, because he’s ridiculously skinny, a smoker, nearly ten fucking years older than us, and a jazz school graduate - precisely everything you hated about me. He can shove his karate ninja “highly ranked karate Ka” bullshit up his arse.

Soooooo…… dig it. Bitch. Stop complaining about your loneliness, and don’t ever ask my why I’m more fun now that I’ve lost you. Ever again. You got what you wanted, be happy!!! And leave me the fuck alone to get on with what makes me feel good.

37096281

For so long I’ve felt numb to everything around me, it was a good kind of numb though. I didn’t care about anything, I couldn’t feel disappointment and I had nothing to lose hence nothing to fear. Until I met my muse and got hit by the world again. I’m a little scared now, but I regret nothing :)

769637475

I can’t get over you, no matter how hard I try. I tell everyone it’s getting better, but it really isn’t. I would still do anything for you. Anything.

Unrequited love is the worst kind.

733465791

so, i guess we had sex

33864263

I miss my old life.
This new one is just as f**ked as the old one, and I keep causing the same problems.
I wish you’d never left. It’s your birthday tomorrow.
I just want it all to be easier.

546487025

I woke up feeling tired this morning.

I want you to be here. Seeing your face in the morning gives me a rush and having you here gets me through the day. Without you, I’m not sure I’ll make it.

I want to go to bed. Sadly, its only 10:30 a.m. and I have work to do…

PHOTO:THECOBRASNAKE

Amazing.....

2009-10-10T09:54:00.002-07:00

2009-10-10T09:54:00.001-07:00

Alexander McQueen............

2009-10-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Alexander McQueen presented his beautiful spring 2010 collection in Paris (watch the video here). The quirky highlights were almost too numerous to list. The show opened with a video of a topless Raquel Zimmermann writhing in the sand with snakes. Some models wore prosthetics around their eyes to make them look like aliens (they took three hours to apply). But as far as details go, the shoes stole the show. At ten inches, these beautiful hooflike monsters have been the highest footwear to strut down a Paris runway this season. The shoes on the left and right look like fancy couture disco lobster claws, while the middle one looks like it's about to come alive and eat that model's leg. How would you describe them? [Fashionologie]

The Smile.......

2009-10-01T20:28:00.001-07:00

Custom Antiqued "THE SMILE" Signage
BYKENYAN PROPS
www.bykenyan.com

The Enforcer...........

2009-09-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

I was watching The Enforcer on TV the other night when I saw in the opening scene an odd-looking utility truck. I was fairly certain it was your standard Grumman-bodied Chevy but later in the scene, the driver walked in front of the grille (just before he was stabbed to death) and I recognized from the grille emblem that the truck was actually a Boyertown.

Battronics was a joint venture between Boyertown, Smith’s Delivery Vehicles of the UK and Exide Battery. Smith’s had been producing electric Mister Softee ice cream trucks since 1959 and successfully marketed their electric utility trucks in the UK and Europe in the late 1950s. They contacted Boyertown with the joint proposal in 1962 because Boyertown had begun producing corrosion-resistant “Multalloy” sheetmetal bodies.

Smith’s withdrew from the Battronics partnership in 1966 and Exide was out of the endeavor by 1969. But production was continued by Boyertown using General Electric’s engineering help. The last electric units were completed in 1983 with a total of 175 delivery trucks, one pickup and 20-some-odd buses produced in that 20 year period.

Battronics trucks could travel at 25 mph and could carry at 1-ton load about 60 miles without a re-charge. A lighter weight battery system introduced in 1968 allowed the driver to quick-change from a discharged battery to another charged unit in less than 10 minutes. Sounds to me like it still would have made a great around-town delivery truck for the post office or one of the package delivery companies in large cities today. An early “green” van.

Restoration parts for these vehicles are still available from Boyertown Trolley in Florida; they are the lone supplier for Battronics.

Rachel Zoe Has Vertigo........

2009-09-30T09:18:00.001-07:00

On last night's episode of The Rachel Zoe Project, stress finally gets the best of Her Zoeness. A doctor explains that her crippling bout of nausea was in fact a symptom of vertigo. “I don’t have time for this — I don’t have time for vertigo,” Zoe responds. Vertigo is a consequence of something, the doctor explains. “Great. Great. And now I’m being punished by my body,” Zoe continues. The perfectly primped doctor (hey there, national television audience) tells her to relax, de-stress, and not work so hard. Ironically, the robe time at home will only make her life more stressful because from the comfort of her bed she manages to brew up a megadrama between Brad and Taylor over who gets to go to Paris Fashion Week. It was a great lesson in how not to handle a situation.

What we learned about fashion:
• Rachel Zoe’s occupation is not styling, it’s stressing. This becomes clear when the doctor tells her she has vertigo and must try to de-stress if she wants to get better. Zoe says, “It’s like telling a singer not to sing.” Right — picking out outfits for people and massive anxiety attacks are one and the same.
• Taylor has the best blazers. We had to grab a fan when we saw the embellished black Viktor & Rolf number she wore when Rachel called to tell her and Brad about the vertigo.
• Styling at Camp Zoe is always insane, Brad explains, because celebrities always need outfits. Otherwise, they’ll go naked?

• Jewelry are like children. Rachel invites a Decades 2 owner over to pull some jewelry to auction off in his store so she can raise money for cancer. She says she has an “anxiety attack,” naturally, every time someone goes through her jewelry, which she stores in a staggering closet bigger than most New York City apartment bathrooms.
• Even if you say you hate something one week, you can wear it the next. Last week, Brad said he wanted to do away with deep V-necks on men. But this week, he sports a white deep-V with his chest hair spilling out in a scene in the showroom with Taylor. It’s kind of how we felt about leopard print. A few months ago we never would have gone there, but two new scarves with rather innocuous leopard spots have us fantasizing about brisk fall wind.
• Men are just as vain as women. Every woman has seen her boyfriend pinching his fat in the bathroom mirror when he thought no one was looking. But apparently getting dressed is fraught with similar anxieties. Or it is for Roger, at least. When dressing for Rachel’s jewelry party, rather than take his wife’s advice, he spends 30 minutes trying to select a shirt and a pair of pants, sending Zoe’s stress back into the Vertizone. They really are soul mates.

What we learned about life:
• Do not bring your husband to the doctor’s office when you are diagnosed with vertigo. When the doctor explains intense stress may have caused Zoe’s vertigo, Roger exclaims, “The stakes are starting to get higher!” No wonder Rachel's so stressed out all the time.
• Assistants are much better at diffusing drama than husbands. “Are you dying?” Taylor deadpans to Rachel when she learns she has vertigo. “That’s good. We wouldn’t want you to die. I don’t want you to die.” And over to Roger: “You have to take those signs seriously — otherwise there is no Rachel Zoe.” Nothing soothes a vertiginous woman like a husband forecasting her imminent demise.
• A bit of time off does wonders for the complexion! After de-stressing away from her office in her new favorite black robe for a while, Rachel’s skin begins to glow and her eyes look remarkably de-puffed. Sleep or microderm? She would have had time for both.
• Rachel Zoe may in fact have been a child once. That is, if the baby photos her sister brought over for the jewelry auction weren't fraudulent.
• The boss needs to decide who gets to go to Paris Fashion Week. Rachel tells Taylor and Brad they can both go to Paris, but then realizes Hollywood can’t go naked, and three celebrities need outfits for events that overlap with Paris. Either Taylor or Brad has to stay behind to deal with this. Deep down inside it’s clear Zoe wants Brad to go, because Taylor won’t hang out with her every waking — possibly sleeping — second to tell her she’s fabulous while making sure her dresses don’t show too much spine bone. But Zoe realizes Taylor deserves to go because she has been working for her much longer. Rather than tell Brad and Taylor herself, she tells them to decide who gets to go, hoping that Brad will suck it up, realize Taylor is more senior and therefore deserves to go, and give up his spot. She may as well have just thrown them in a barbed wire pen and sold tickets to their catfight.
• Know your assistants. If Rachel had really thought about her method of dealing with the Paris Match situation, she would have realized that Brad would never step up and let Paris go because he is a ham and will not turn down any chance he has to be in front of the cameras or do something "fabulous."
• When the boss can’t make a decision, the senior assistant needs to be the boss and make the right one for her. Taylor knows Rachel wants Brad to step up and give up Paris, but ultimately, rather than make the decision of her own accord, tells Brad he can go and she’ll stay behind, because she is the bigger person.
• Don’t just take your second assistant to Paris Fashion Week because he is kind of a baby. Brad goes to Rachel and tells her she handled the situation very poorly, and he feels like he was “tricked.” This is the perfect opportunity for Rachel to own up to her mismanagement — which she does — and remedy the situation by telling Brad that Taylor should go, not him. But she needs as many gay men as possible around to be on clavicle watch with DVF pom-poms to cheer her on as she moves through life, so she lets Brad come anyway. “Know this isn’t over,” Brad says. Taylor had better redefine "diva" next week.

By THECUT

Call Now.......

2009-09-28T23:41:00.001-07:00

Printout,Cutout&Wear......

2009-09-28T17:11:00.001-07:00

F*****................!

2009-09-27T04:16:00.000-07:00

New Prop Blog Launched.....

2009-09-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

Introducing an all new prop house with an expansive assemblage of rustic and tasteful vintage pieces to enhance your photo shoot, presentation or retail space with a lived in, timeless and elegant atmosphere.

All props are available for weekly / monthly rental. Please email or call to inquire about rates, availability and delivery. Explain to us your theme or inspiration and we will compile the images of our props which may suit your project best, and if by chance we do not have the specific item you seek, with ample notice we can source the items for you.

We are also proficient in fabrication of products such as flags, curtains, signage, crates, and who knows what else, just ask...

We make it our business to make your production experience as professional and creative as we can achieve.

CHECK

3 Frames Movies.......

2009-09-26T10:39:00.001-07:00

If you don't have time to watch movies, but need to catch up on a few classics, check out 3 Frame Movies. It is a website that summarizes blockbuster greats in 3 simple drawings. The 3 frames try to capture the essence of the movie... as the artist remembers it. Hopefully that means the good parts, but not always. You are all so free to submit your own movie requests.

Some of the interpretations are fantastically amusing. This site is like a mini lesson in storytelling. My favorite 3 Frame Movie is Jurassic Park.

WATCH ONE FOR A SECOND

The Return of SUMO.......

2009-09-24T13:40:00.001-07:00

The biggest, most lavish book production of the 20th century is back!

SUMO was a titanic book in every respect: a 480-page tribute to one of the 20th century's most influential, intriguing and controversial photographers, it broke records for weight, dimensions, and resale price.

Helmut Newton (1920–2004) always demonstrated a healthy disdain for easy or predictable solutions. SUMO—a bold and unprecedented publishing venture—was an irresistible project. The idea of a spectacular compendium of images, a book with the dimensions of a private exhibition, reproduced to exceptional page size and to state-of-the-art origination and printing standards, emerged from an open, exploratory dialogue between photographer and publisher.

With the physically commanding SUMO weighing in—boxed and shrink-wrapped—at 35.4 kilos, Newton created a landmark book that stood head and shoulders above anything previously attempted, both in terms of conceptual extravagance and technical specifications.

Published in an edition of 10,000 signed and numbered copies, SUMO sold out soon after publication and quickly multiplied its value. This worldwide publishing sensation now features in numerous important collections around the world, including New York's Museum of Modern Art. Legendary SUMO copy number one, autographed by over 100 of the book's featured celebrities, also broke the record for the most expensive book published in the 20th century, selling at auction in Berlin on April 6, 2000 for 620,000 German Marks – approximately $430,000.

SUMO established new standards for the art monograph genre, and secured a prominent place in photo-book history. This new edition is the fulfillment of an ambition conceived some years ago by Helmut Newton. He would surely be pleased that, a decade on from its first publication, SUMO—now in a format that allows for a more democratic distribution—will reach the widest possible audience.

However, proud owners of the new edition won't wrestle with their copy of SUMO. It comes with a unique stand for displaying the book at home:

About the artist:
Helmut Newton (1920-2004) was one of the most influential photographers of all time. Born in Berlin, he arrived in Australia in 1940 and married June Brunell (a.k.a. Alice Springs) eight years later. He first achieved international fame in the 1970's while working principally for French Vogue, and his celebrity and influence grew over the decades. Newton preferred to shoot in streets or interiors, rather than studios. Controversial scenarios, bold lighting, and striking compositions came to form his signature look. In 1990 he was awarded the Grand Prix National for photography; in 1992 the German government awarded him Das Grosse Verdienstkreuz for services to German culture, and he was appointed Officer des Arts, Lettres et Sciences by S.A.S. Princess Caroline of Monaco. In 1996, he was appointed Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French Minister of Culture at the time. Working and living in close companionship with his wife until his death at 83, his images remain as distinctive, seductive and orginal as ever.

BUY IT NOW

Ghost Rider Latest Marvel Movie to Rev .......

2009-09-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

Through a spokesperson, Goyer said he hadn’t signed on yet. But plans are already under way to base the sequel on a “Ghost Rider” script written years ago by Goyer, whose superhero work includes hit screen transfers of DC’s “Batman Begins” and Marvel’s “Blade” franchise. The original “Ghost Rider” was scripted by director Mark Steven Johnson.

“Ghost Rider” will be produced by former Marvel topper Avi Arad, Michael De Luca and Steven Paul, with Gary Foster executive producer.

The activity on “Ghost Rider” follows a flurry of activity on Marvel characters at almost every studio but Disney, which acquired Marvel Entertainment in a $4 billion deal.

Fox is: rebooting “Fantastic Four” with “Green Lantern” scribe Michael Green and producer Akiva Goldsman; mobilizing a “Wolverine” sequel and several “X-Men” spinoffs; is quietly developing a new version of “Daredevil” and working on a Silver Surfer film. Sony recently set James Vanderbilt to write the fifth and sixth installments of “Spider-Man,” and Universal continues work on “Sub-Mariner.” Paramount continues as distributor for “Iron Man 2” and several others expected to include “Thor” and “Captain America.”

The activity is necessary for those studios to keep the superhero properties. If the properties atrophy, they can be reclaimed by Marvel Entertainment, which happened with such properties as Dr. Strange, Black Panther and Iron Man, the latter of which languished at New Line before Marvel turned it into the self-financed blockbuster.

Those properties were repossessed by Arad when he ran Marvel from 1993-2007, when he left to start a film company with son Ari just after Marvel locked in its $525 million credit facility. Arad said he left because he was exhausted, and because he was convinced that his number two, Kevin Feige, was ready to take over. That belief is reinforced by Feige’s emergence as a possible replacement for Disney film topper Dick Cook, because he made a strong impression on Bob Iger during the Marvel deal making talks.

While the plethora of superheroes at other studios and Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park has raised skepticism over Marvel’s acquisition price, Arad doesn’t see the $4 billion price tag as untoward. He said the number validated the vision that he and Ike Perlmutter had when they implored creditors to spurn a $350 million cash offer from Carl Icahn, when Marvel was in bankruptcy in the late 1990s. Arad argued at the time that interest by several studios in “Spider-Man” alone meant that the film could be a billion dollar enterprise. Since then, X-Men and Blade also joined that billion dollar club, and Iron Man is well on the way.

Arad—who is producing both Marvel’s “Ghost Rider” and “Spider-Man” at Columbia—said that on films that Disney doesn’t distribute, Marvel gets lucrative first dollar gross fees, and is well compensated for the use of its characters in the Universal theme park. The acquisition’s real upside, the library of Marvel characters, can be mined for decades, Arad said.

The Goyer-scripted “Blade” trilogy, Marvel’s first film success, is a good example.
Columbia Pictures has begun to rev the throttle on a second installment of the Marvel Comics character “Ghost Rider.”

David Goyer is in early talks to create the story and supervise writers for a film expected to once again star Nicolas Cage, who played the highly flammable cyclist in the 2007 original.
“The character was virtually unknown, didn’t even have his own comic book, and had been part of `Tombs of Dracula,’” Arad said. “It tells you what can happen if you unleash a library with the right creative partners.”

Arad mentioned Dr. Strange, Nick Fury, Power Pack, Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers as prime movie properties.

“I had this poster of the Marvel universe, with these beautifully drawn characters, and we used to say you could throw a dart, hit a character and make a hit movie under the Marvel brand,” Arad said. “There is long list yet to be unleashed. I think this will look like a smart deal over time, because Disney is a company that knows how to exploit a brand.”

Arad is separately developing a slate that includes the Catherine Hardwicke-directed adaptation of the James Patterson novel series “Maximum Ride” at Columbia, “Ghost in the Shell” for DreamWorks. Arad has also secured rights to make a CGI animated feature based on the venerable strongman “Popeye.”

By: Mike Fleming

Sweet Millions.....

2009-09-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

Greetings From Coney Island............

2009-09-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

The best way to deal with end-of-fashion-week-fatigue is to ignore it. And hit the bar. Happily, Alison Lewis’ Spring 2010 collection had plenty of Champagne—who doesn’t love a pre-cocktail-hour cocktail? Models in Lewis’ sweet printed dresses with a vintage feel and wear-anywhere potential lounged about, showing off subtle ruffle detailing on the back of one dress and graphic cutouts on another. Antique Fairground inspired props styled/provided Bykenyan Props . It was clear that the appeal of Lewis lies in its quirky wearability. The shapes are familiar but the details are different, and they’d work just as well on a bike ride as at a bar. If bike rides and beach days sound like a thing of the past thanks to this newfound nip in the air, check out the Spring 2010 video Lewis debuted at her presentation, shot on Coney Island in warmer times. Watching it on a gray day in the Meatpacking District made riding on the Wonder Wheel look tremendously appealing.

Solar panel roads.............

2009-09-19T07:09:00.001-07:00

Idaho-based Solar Roadways founder Scott Brusaw is excited that his company has a received a USD$100,000 U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) grant to develop further his prototype that turns roads in giant electricity-generating solar panels. Apart from providing energy to power our homes, street lighting and so on, the roads could contain thousands of embedded LEDs to provide better street signage and make driving safer. He also believes the solar panel roads could last up to three times longer than the current petroleum-based asphalt surface and even be heated in winter to discourage dangerous ice build ups.

It’s a brave plan but dig deeper and Brusaw’s idea would appear to have a lot of merit. In the video (below) Brusaw says he’s not reinventing solar power collection systems, he’s just deploying them in a practical way. He says that in 2003, the US had more than 25,000 sq miles of roads, parking lots and driveways that, if exchanged for solar panels with only 15% efficiency (about the average panel output currently available), would provide more than three times the power necessary for every home in the U.S., maybe enough for the whole world.

If you’ve ever stood in the middle of a hot road on a sunny day, you’ll know what Brusaw is talking about when he says our roads are wasting a lot of solar energy.

For example, Brusaw says that if we exchanged one mile of a four-lane asphalt highway with a solar panel road of the same dimensions, it would produce at least 13,376kWh of electricity a day – a whopping 4,882,240kWh per year (or enough to take 500 homes off the grid completely). And that’s with an average of only four hours of sunlight per day.

He says the viability of the project lies in finding a glass surface for the panels that has the same traction qualities as asphalt, can withstand a fully-laden semi trailer braking hard at 80mph, can withstand the heat and cold, reduce glare while absorbing the sun’s rays and house the LEDs that make road signage so much more efficient.

But he says he’s spoken to scientists at Penn State University’s Materials Research Institute who told him they’d have no problem designing glass to meet his specifications (they just wouldn’t put a time limit on it).

Brusaw’s company Solar Roadways has been able to design a frame for the solar panels to sit in which makes them feasible for use as roads.

He’s optimistic that new roads laid of solar panels in a grid formation could power shops, homes, the road infrastructure etc. Brusaw believes the U.S. has an aging electricity pole infrastructure and that the average pole is roughly 40 years old, well past its use-by date. He says a road made up of solar panels wouldn’t need these poles so, rather than replace them, it’s time to bite the bullet and roll out his new idea.

Bundling services such as Internet, phone and cable TV, along with the electricity infrastructure of the solar panels, would further reduce costs and entice service providers to get on board with the idea.

Another great possibility with a solar panel road is embedding LEDs just under the glass surface. These would not only illuminate the dividing lines between lanes and the road shoulders, but could be used to display speed signs, warn of dangers ahead, even be interactive to show travel times, detours, changed conditions and directional arrows. Brusaw says you can light up roads like ‘runways’.

He says his research has shown that the average asphalt road costs USD$16 per square foot but only has a lifetime of seven years. He is hopeful of making the glass solar panels that last 21 years for $48 sq ft, which is a break even cost. When you add in the ‘free’ electricity you extract from it, his idea grows some legs.

Imagine how easy it would be to recharge electric cars from a road that generates electricity?

If adopted, Brusaw claims, solar roads would provide enough energy to replace to replace all centralized power stations, including coal and nuclear-powered electricity generation plants.

By Inhabitat

Anna Wolf for Untitled Magazine .............

2009-09-17T08:26:00.001-07:00

Check out this beautiful little fashion video by New York photographer Anna Wolf for Untitled Magazine. I keep having conversations with people about photography versus video, and while I think neither of them is going to be going anywhere fast, I think videos like these show what’s going to be happening in fashion in the near future. I think it’s partially the subtlety of her camera work and the well chosen angles that really make this beautiful to me.

She should also get props for not using Sigur Ros as the music for the video. Yes, Sigur Ros give an amazing vibe and feeling to you slow-motion shots, but everyone on earth has already done it, and no, you shouldn’t use Riceboy Sleeps or any other side-project by them either.

Bobby

.............

2009-09-15T17:55:00.000-07:00

YSL......

2009-09-15T17:52:00.000-07:00

R I P ................

2009-09-15T10:31:00.001-07:00

Hell......

2009-09-15T10:07:00.000-07:00

“Here’s a first look inside Phillip Garrido’s house of horrors, where he held kidnap victim Jaycee Lee Dugard and the two children he illicitly fathered for 18 sadistic years.

The filthy hellhole is a warren of tents and sheds, littered with toys, clothing, books, cardboard boxes, and cat-related ephemera — providing a glimpse into the abominable conditions Dugard endured as Garrido’s alleged sex slave.”

“As shocking details emerge about Dugard’s sadistic captivity, a series of disturbing pictures showing her ramshackle outdoor prison were released yesterday.

The tent has dressers overflowing with clothing, stripped-down sofas for beds and a dirty fishtank. There’s a Bible on CD, and the chillingly titled book, “Self Esteem: A Family Affair.” There’s an open box of lice treatment, four naked Barbie dolls and makeup containers.

The children had to remain within a makeshift campsite hidden from the outside world, while the their captors lived a seemingly child-free public life.”

“There were zero signs of kids living there,” Sgt. Diane Aguinaga of the Antioch police said about the main home of her captors, Phillip Garrido and his wife, Nancy Garrido.

A running theme throughout the tent — eerily adorned with a “Welcome” sign at the entrance — is a preoccupation with cats.

There are ceramic feline figurines, copies of the magazine Cat Fancy, cat jigsaw puzzles and about 20 books about the animals, including “Do Cats Think?” and “The Cat Who Went to Paris.”

There were dozens of other, non-cat related books, with several titles from famed-suspense master Dean Koontz, science-fiction author Isaac Asimov and romance writer Danielle Steel.”

“One snapshot reveals a crude shrine to Garrido, depicting the onetime musician singing and playing guitar in what appears to be a suburban living room.

Dugard’s mother, Terry Probyn, raced to Northern California to reunite with her daughter and to meet her granddaughters for the first time. But there are already signs of the difficult road ahead.

Just a day after Probyn first saw her daughter after 18 years, she called her sister, Tina Dugard, in Riverside, Calif., to come provide emotional support.

“Terry’s freaked out and needs me. The child that was taken isn’t the same,” Tina’s neighbor quoted the sister as saying. “She didn’t use the word ‘brainwashed,’ but that’s how I interpreted it. She was having a hard time connecting.”

BY LACHLAN CARTWRIGHT

I’M SOOOOO SORRY..............

2009-09-14T16:50:00.000-07:00

“I’M SOOOOO SORRY TO TAYLOR SWIFT AND HER FANS AND HER MOM. I SPOKE TO HER MOTHER RIGHT AFTER AND SHE SAID THE SAME THING MY MOTHER WOULD’VE SAID. SHE IS VERY TALENTED!I LIKE THE LYRICS ABOUT BEING A CHEERLEADER AND SHE’S IN THE BLEACHERS! ……… I’M IN THE WRONG FOR GOING ON STAGE AND TAKING AWAY FROM HER MOMENT!……BEYONCE’S VIDEO WAS THE BEST OF THIS DECADE!!!!

I’M SORRY TO MY FANS IF I LET YOU GUYS DOWN!!!! I’M SORRY TO MY FRIENDS AT MTV. I WILL APOLOGIZE TO TAYLOR 2MRW. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD!!!! EVERYBODY WANNA BOOOOO ME BUT I’M A FAN OF REAL POP CULTURE!!! NO DISRESPECT BUT WE WATCHIN’ THE SHOW AT THE CRIB RIGHT NOW CAUSE … WELL YOU KNOW!!!! I’M STILL HAPPY FOR TAYLOR!!!! BOOOYAAAWWWW!!!! YOU ARE VERY VERY TALENTED!!! I GAVE MY AWARDS TO OUTKAST WHEN THEY DESERVED IT OVER ME… THAT’S WHAT IT IS!!!!!!! I’M NOT CRAZY YALL, I’M JUST REAL. SORRY FOR THAT!!! I REALLY FEEL BAD FOR TAYLOR AND I’M SINCERELY SORRY!!! MUCH RESPECT!!!!!”

$1m reward for stolen Warhols.......

2009-09-14T06:46:00.000-07:00

A reward of $1m is being offered this weekend for information leading to the recovery of a unique collection of stolen Andy Warhol portraits.

The works of art disappeared earlier this month from the Los Angeles home of Richard Weisman, who commissioned them from the artist in the 1970s.

Weisman's 10 original silkscreen prints feature famous sporting figures. The images include portraits of boxer Muhammad Ali, tennis player Chris Evert, golfer Jack Nicklaus, footballer Pelé and disgraced actor and former American football star OJ Simpson. They were produced by Warhol between 1977 and 1979.

The pieces were taken from the walls of the house's dining room, along with a Warhol portrait of Weisman. Police said the theft had been discovered by a nanny on 3 September. The Weisman family were not at home when she spotted that the Warhol works had been removed.

Several valuable artworks, including other notable prints by Warhol, were left untouched. The house, in an exclusive area of the city on Angelo Drive, was locked at the time of the discovery and there was no sign of forced entry.

Mark Sommer, a detective with the LA police department's art theft unit, said it was unclear how the paintings had been removed but that witnesses in the road had noted a maroon van parked in the drive at around the time the theft was noticed.

"This was a very clean crime," Sommer said. "[The home] wasn't ransacked. For some reason they had an interest in this collection."

Don Hrycyk, another detective, said that the delay in announcing the theft had allowed police to organise the reward and distribute photographs of the missing artworks.

The 10 portraits that make up the collection are each about 40 inches by 40 inches and were featured in a book, Picasso to Pop: The Richard Weisman Collection, that was published by Weisman in 2003. He had tried to sell the collection the previous year for $3m (£1.8m). "The theft of Warhol's athlete series represents a profoundly personal loss to me and my family," the collector said in a statement on Friday.

Warhol became famous as an artist in the 1960s for his ground-breaking pop art images. The artist's bohemian lifestyle, combined with his avant garde film-making and the parties he held at the New York studio known as The Factory, helped to establish him as an enduring cult figure.

Brenda Klippel, director of Martin Lawrence Galleries in Los Angeles, which has a large collection of Warhols, said: "Warhol was always a portraitist and fascinated with anyone in the public eye. He wanted all of his imagery to be instantly recognisable.

"If Weisman was in his circle and had the money, he could commission what he wanted."

By Vanessa Thorpe

Paul Johannessen.......

2009-09-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

Paul take lapse videos from the rooftop of his workspace. Shot on Panasonic HVX200, in 1080 using the interval recording mode. Rate of recording was 1 shot in every 4 or 8 fps....AMaZING!

Shake Shake..........

2009-09-13T14:56:00.000-07:00

The iPhone app iBoobs(Watch the video!). Too bad for everyone that wanted to have it. Apple rejected it because they seem to see it as pornography or something. For the 3D model and physical based animation it uses EMotion FX.

Thomas Doyle....................

2009-09-13T14:53:00.001-07:00

Arts by Thomas Doyle! Amazing! The "The reprisal" in a 10 x 12 inches diameter!

Safety First......

2009-09-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

YouTube ADDICT.........

2009-09-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

Addicted to YouTube? Designer Ignacio Pilotto has created these YouTube ADDICT stickers for Youtube addicts! You can place the stickers on your laptop srceen, your TV and.... so that look like you're watching a YouTube stream. Cool?

THE SX-70 CAMERA...........

2009-09-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

Anna Lomax..........

2009-09-09T20:00:00.001-07:00

Anna Lomax

Colour Me Happy

"My bedroom was rather murk. I wanted it to be a bright, happy room-daydreaming about colouring-in was not enough. Three days and a lot of paint and I had coloured it happy."

Blog

2009-09-07T21:04:00.001-07:00

In 1980, Prince was still starting out. He was four years away from Purple Rain, and still second to Rick James on the sexed-up US glam-funk circuit. Hence, he needed a seriously steamy album cover to make a point, throw down the gauntlet, and tell the world “I am SEXY! Deal with it!”. So he went for this – the classic neck scarf and underpants look. Only here, he accessorised with what looks like a military style jacket (open) and an impressive set of pubic hair, growing upwards towards his downier stomach pubes. If you look at his face and haircut, much plucking work has been done, making him look like the perfect mix of man and woman. It’s a great record, although the artwork did manage to alienated thousands of confused young military men who couldn’t understand why someone with a moustache was making them want to have sex. This was back in the days when being gay was still considered an illness, remember.

Transform.......

2009-09-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

METROFARM...........

2009-09-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

DJ Desks

Over the past years they have designed and built a number of high end DJ Desks in different materials and finishes.

All Metrofarm DJ Desks are custom made to the technical equipment of their clients' needs and wishes.

METROFARM

The Smile ...............

2009-09-03T19:40:00.000-07:00

The Creative Process...........

2009-09-02T21:09:00.000-07:00

Having a creative job has its ups and downs. When you're able to patiently nurture your creativity with mood lighting and inspirational trinkets, taking all the time you need to carefully refine your ideas before presenting them to your client, you should consider yourself very lucky. But when it's 3 a.m. and you need to finish a set of comps before the start of business in six hours and the only ideas you're having are colorful excuses to explain your total lack of creative thought, the frustration can bring you to your knees. These are the times when having a concise, clear creative process will save you, allowing hard work, experience and intelligence to get you through the job.

The Need for a Process
You probably already have a process you follow when creating any new design from scratch; you may have just never "formalized" that process or thought about it in a lot of detail. By picking apart the way you already do things, possibly modifying your technique a little, and creating a repeatable plan for the generation and execution of new ideas, you'll improve your consistency, your ability to plan and time your work, and perhaps even raise the quality of your best work. You'll ensure that your work is not only artistically great, but commercially viable as well, communicating more effectively and in a more sophisticated manner. By focusing on your process, you'll have a chance to analyze what works, what doesn't work and what you should emphasize in order to get the most from the good ol' right brain.

What is a Process?
Your creative process is a series of steps that you repeat every time you need to create. Simple. The trick is to make the steps fluid and flexible enough to allow you the room you need to create well, while still being structured enough to help you through when you're having a hard time. An effective process should allow for serendipity—happy accidents are responsible for lots of great design (probably more than anyone cares to admit). A good process should also have room for moments of creativity—flashes of brilliance—mingled with long bouts of mental chaff. Your own process might be a very rigid step-by-step approach, or it might be a loose progression of stages you go through, or it could be anything in between.

Developing Your Own Process
First, examine what it is that you do, or at least what it is that you're expected to do on a particular job. Were you hired primarily as a "visionary" who the client is expecting to reel in come production time? Or, on the other end of the spectrum, are you more of a craftsman, hired to build something conservative and simple, but to build it really well? These two extremes, and everything in between, have different creative needs and therefore different creative approaches.

A good process will allow you enough flexibility to work with varying levels of creative freedom and varying expectations of "creative muscle". You should also be able to modify your approach slightly to function in almost any medium, with almost any style, and within a myriad of other constraints that might be placed upon you. By focusing on one aspect or another of your process, from research to planning to execution, you can guide your own thinking toward your creative goals without having to significantly modify your overall approach.

When thinking about how to develop a process that will work for you, think about how you're most comfortable working and how things tend to happen when you're really clicking. Think back to your best moments—what form did inspiration take? Different people are triggered creatively in different ways, and it's important to know the types of things that set your own mind in motion so that you can structure your process around those things.

Creative Process: A Sample
Here's my process; sometimes it takes months, sometimes minutes, but I always stick to the same basic guidelines.

Research—Describe the design direction you think is most appropriate, using precise adjectives and phrases.
First, think about what you already know about the project from initial client meetings, documentation you've received, etc. Use this knowledge to come up with a few adjectives and phrases that you think describe the general "vibe" you're looking for with your design. For example: "This piece needs to be modern and cutting edge, but sophisticated. Aloof. Vibrant and animated, but serious. Expensive. Older folks trying to feel young." Use your own words, things that evoke feelings, images or ideas in your own mind.

Then, ask questions: What kind of message/client/brand/product is this that I'm trying to communicate? Who is my audience? Are they interested, or is it a "hard sell"? What am I trying to tell my audience? Is there a message? Use logic to refine your direction and make sure your work is appropriate.

Finally, look for ingredients. Inspiration can come from anywhere—media, your own past work, the junk on your desk, your surroundings. Look for things that fit the adjectives and phrases you've established.

After you've gone through these steps once, re-describe the direction with better adjectives, ask more questions, look deeper (if possible) into your ingredients pile and repeat again and again until you start to form a mental picture of what you're trying to design. To dig deeper, find more work by artists whose style makes sense to you. Or gain a broader sense of a particular period in history, be it art history or otherwise.

The tangible outcome of the research phase might be a list of informed and refined adjectives, or it might be pages of notes, piles of books, thoughts in your head, or any combination of these. This is a part of the process that's very time-flexible; it can take minutes or months. Having a personal library is crucial here if you're up against a tight deadline.

Plan—Sketch possible ideas, given the necessary elements.

This should be a relatively mechanical process to start, building to free thinking as time and the project merit. Draw the elements' basic shapes, and then work through permutations of arrangements of those shapes. While the computer is (obviously) an indispensable tool for many (if not most) aspects of design, it can limit one's thinking when planning page layouts and structure. I always recommend sketching with pencil and paper, generally at a small scale.

During the planning phase, you'll want to be thinking about some other issues in addition to basic layout. You might also be experimenting with various other design choices at this point, contemplating what typefaces might be appropriate, what sorts of imagery you might use and how the visual language of the piece will relate to the goals you settled on in the research phase. In Web design, how the page will actually function and move, what animation will be present, how the interface will feel to the user, and what the potential technical issues (and solutions) might be should also be considered in these early stages of design.

The more time you're able to spend in this phase, the better. This is when you can be hanging out at the beach, jotting down ideas on your lunch receipt and still be doing your job well. I like to spend at least a week or two whenever possible just thinking about a project and sketching sporadically before I move on to the next phase, execution.

Execute—Using the research you did and the plans you formulated, concretely visualize the final piece.

Now it's time to start moving pixels around (even if you're designing a printed piece, it still spends most of its life as pixels). This phase is where personal work habits allow for the most variation in typical processes. The goal, depending on the particulars of the job, is to create a concise visual exploration of options that fulfill the objectives laid out in the research and planning phases. There should be as much variation as possible between different possible solutions to allow for future refinement of ideas. Start with the "knowns" such as layouts from planning sketches, logos, imagery that's either required or desired, and permutations of necessary elements such as menus and copy. Block these pieces in, add more detail, refine placements and treatments (changing typefaces, relationships, color, etc.), and continue to develop.

You might begin five or six different pieces based on your sketches, making "passes" through the complete set and refining each piece a little bit with each pass. Or, you might begin a single piece, develop, build, and refine it to your satisfaction, then begin the next piece with new ideas and objectives. The goal should be maximum variety and exploration of visual solutions, using each solution as a starting point for further development.

It's important to "know when to say when" during this final phase. By leaving each piece just slightly unfinished, you ensure that the development of the design will continue beyond these initial comps. If you really don't think it makes much difference what color a headline is, leave that up to the client. Giving them a design decision to make (with your supervision, of course!) will make them feel involved in the process and possibly save you from spoiling parts that you feel strongly about. Even if you don't give the client choices or obvious tweaks to make, you should always remember that this is an initial creative step, not the production of a finished piece.

James Taylor ..........

2009-09-02T12:11:00.001-07:00

If you were to throw all things rad in the world into an oversized food processor what would spew out the other end could quite possibly look like the illustrative ramblings of British artist James Taylor. Using a combination of illustration styles mashed with collage and retro inspired geometric patterns and colourways his pieces really do hit the spot.

Check some samples of his doodles to the right of this post and for more James Taylor radness visit his Debut Art portfolio .

Want to be a Trillionaire?

2009-09-02T11:38:00.000-07:00

When inflation is rampant, one good investment strategy is to buy antiques and good collectibles. We don’t know if people in Zimbabwe are doing that, but they sure have had to deal with inflation. If you want to be a Trillionaire, you can get a $50 trillion and even a $100 Trillion Zimbabwe bill, legal tender--$50 Trillion Zimbabwe dollars equals about $140 U.S

Purchase

The Selby....

2009-09-02T08:46:00.000-07:00

TheSelby

Jonathan Leder.........

2009-08-30T15:27:00.001-07:00

Jonathan Leder was born and raised in New York City during the 1970's. He started his career by assisting superstar photographer Steven Klein.

As the digital camera revolutionized the photography world, Jonathan remained faithful to his 35mm and old-school Polaroid (remember those?). With a sharp eye and a distinct indie style, Jonathan is able to capture these absolutely amazing, dreamy shots.

"I don't like when girls are too perfect. I like a girl with character, who has something real about her. I generally prefer to work with American whenever possible, only because I understand their culture and background more, and I think this is important.

I also don't like it when the pictures become too much about lighting or the clothes"
-Jonathan Leder

WEBSITE

STAR WARS Unmasked 1976..........

2009-08-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

L to R: Harrison Ford 6'1" (Han Solo), David Prowse 6'5" (Darth Vader), Peter Mayhew 7'3"(Chewbacca), Carrie Fisher 5' (Princess Leia), Kenny Baker 3'8" (R2-D2), and Mark Hamill 5'8" (Luke Skywalker).

2-4 Inches Taller

Richard Pryor.....

2009-08-30T09:27:00.000-07:00

.......!

2009-08-25T17:40:00.000-07:00

2009-08-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

You can tell a lot about a band by how it performs offstage, as was my initial experience of Paris Suit Yourself on Thanksgiving last year. The three expatriate band members made a surprise visit to my Berlin apartment after hearing word of an American feast, hours after dinner and just in time for the vodka. Like the band's music, their behavior was as charming as it was abrasive. Drummer Joseph Heffernan, who hails from Arkansas and intentionally, if not performatively, assumes that anyone from north of the Mason-Dixon Line is from Connecticut, managed to rile up the majority of my guests and incite some to take off early. Meanwhile, Luvinsky Atche and Victor Tricard, respectively the singer and guitarist, from Paris and Bordeaux, enthralled the remaining company with an enthusiasm for Rilke and the underbelly of German history: "Putin lived in East Germany in the 80s, working under the name Adamo-something, and cried like an angry baby when the Wall came down," Atche mused while chewing on the remains of dinner.

This mixture of gall and grace made more sense a few days later, when I first saw Paris Suit Yourself perform. Onstage, the band's chemistry fuses the bonafides of gospel with the fiery theatrics of early punk rock, as if Atche invokes the haunted vocal grooves from Archie Shepp's "Attica Blues," bolstered by strained rhythms echoing the DKs' "Holiday in Cambodia." All of that's wrapped in a handsome wardrobe, and instilled with a techno flow that colludes the deviating sounds.

One performance began with the bassist, Paris-based Marie Boye, leading a crab-walking, hooded Atche on to the stage by a leash, all singing, "You can touch my private parts." Later, there were mellifluous, trance-induced chants, distraught tantrums that saw mic stands tossed and thrown, and dancehall-inflected raps - a combination that defies genre and often sends an audience into a frenzy of fascination, and sometimes frustration. At a performance last week, one patron huffed with pouty lips, "What is this shit?" She was splashed with a fountain of water from onstage, and retreated upstairs into the solace of late-night DJs, where she was later seen dancing with a new, dry outfit.

In spite of their off-the-cuff style of performance, or even the glibness of their name, Paris Suit Yourself is deeply sincere about their sound, and aim to transform our collective notion of violence. "Brutality without elegance is like trying to fit a square inside of a circle... a waste of time, and a good way to render yourself ridiculous," Boye says. "In a more or less controlled way, we try to make the audience re-become animals while remaining ourselves at the height of their dignity."

But don't stare too hard at the band's pulpit, as there's still fun to be had. For instance, why the name Paris Suit Yourself? "Who knows," Boye says. "We should probably change it to Paris Berlin Arkansas Suit Yourself But Take The Fucking Plane. But that's way too long."

By Matthew Evans

Dear Miss Pearl.......

2009-08-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

I got a girl pregnant when I was 16 years old and I never claimed the baby because my mother always said that the baby wasn't mine. Since my mother basically told me that it wasn't my baby, as a kid, she was saying what I secretly wanted to hear and, since she basically gave me an out. I was cool with it.

The older I got, the more I thought about the fact that I might have a son out there and it started to bother me. When I was 27 years old, I called my mother and asked her what she thought about me contacting the girl I thought I had a baby by and she said that it would be stupid at that point, but I tried to find the girl anyway. (She moved away with her family when the kid was about 5)

After I joined the army and got married, I told my wife that I thought I might have a son out there and she asked if I wanted to find him. We spent thousands of dollars trying to find him and eventually, it paid off.

When I finally reached out to my son, he was 16 years old and basically told me that he didn't care what I was going through, or how often I had thought about him over the years - he had a father who taught him how to ride a bike and talk to girls and fix a flat tire, so he didn't want or need me in his life.

That was the worst thing I could have heard because I had really hoped that my other children would get to meet their brother and maybe we could all work on building a relationship.

I talked to his mother and she basically told me that she had nothing to do with his thought process and even told me that his step-father (who is no longer with his mother) even tried to tell him that he should talk to me, but he won't.

I don't really need advice, but I want to say to all the brothers out there who don't take responsibility for their children that, if they have a heart, one day their lack of interest in their children will come back to haunt them.

Lonely, hurt "father"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Dear "Father",

I hate to say it, but the realness in me simply has no choice. -your son is simply giving you exactly what you gave him during his lifetime - nothing. I can't say that I agree or disagree with him, but the reality is, he's hurting and lashing out at you is the only way that he knows how to deal with that hurt.

It doesn't matter to him that you showed up 16 years later ready to "father" him because parents in the home with their teenagers have a hard enough time trying to communicate with them, so you popping up as he's going through that stage is the last thing he wants to deal with. He's simply not interested. I can tell that you're hurt and that you really want a relationship with your son, and I hope that one day he changes his mind, even if it's just so that he can get to know his siblings.

Now, as much as I would like to blame you for not being their for your son, the person I lay the most blame on here isn't' you - it's your mother!!! Not only did she encourage you to not take responsibility for your son when he was born, she tried to discourage you not to pursue him when he was 10 years old - what the hell is that about???

I'll leave your letter as written and all we can do is hope that somebody learns a lesson from your story. Specifically mothers who are ignorant enough to try to prevent their sons from taking responsibility for their children! That's the most ignorant $hit I've ever heard and I'm sure that many of these women who are trying to teach their children this way are raising their sons alone their damn selves!

How dare a black woman train her to not be a responsible father! As bad off as black fathers are today, we have women teaching irresponsibility? I fault your mother for this - you were a child!

If you want advice from Miss Pearl, send me an email to: misspearlswindow@yahoo.com

Jeans being hand loomed........

2009-08-20T16:41:00.000-07:00

This a model of the 1890 Sakichi Toyoda patented wooden hand loom.
Jeans being hand loomed in the Momotaro store in Japan. It would be amazing to see in person and study how all the mechanisms work. The store weaver moves the harnesses (by foot?), beats in the fill yarn, pulls a string system to shoot the shuttle back and forth, and pumps a lever to roll up the greige cloth.

You can Purchase Momotaro jeans at Blue in Green in NYC.

Decal.........

2009-08-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

‘Sticker cars’ is a phrase you may not be too familiar with, but if you live in New Orleans it’s very possible you do. It’s a new breed of “customization” that’s hitting the car scene hard down south. You make the car “your own” by getting it vinyl wrapped, or, stickered.

I personally don’t see how getting a brand’s logo slapped on the side of your automobile is making it yours, but hey, what do I know. I guess it’s the same as the white boys who wear $88. T- shirts that says " My Girlfriends out of Town".

The two videos below are part of a short documentary of the Sticker Car scene that’s taking place in New Orleans.

Anti-paparazzi device.........

2009-08-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

Whether you're camera shy or too famous to look bad in a photo, Adam Harvey's flashy anti-paparazzi purse will return fire at snooping cameras (and blind anyone around you to boot). The device is equipped with a photo cell that — once it detects a bright, sudden flash — will trigger an LED-controlling circuit to let off a burst of light of its own. The result? A good majority of the owner of the purse will be obscured by a flash, and the photo will be useless. Obviously, this works best at night.

So far, a purse is the most accommodating and portable conveyance for the anti-paparazzi device, though Harvey is looking at ways to make it smaller so that it might work just as well on a necklace or tie.

HardTimes......

2009-08-16T13:16:00.001-07:00

Yamaha xs650 Bobber For Sale!

1978 Yamaha XS650 Bobber 4 Sale. It has upgraded carbs and a larger sproket for better hwy speeds. Completely custom paint job and frame. Gotta get rid of this XS650 motorcycle because I need to get rid of some debt…

This XS650 is no longer for sale.

.......................

2009-08-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

Old News........!

2009-08-16T12:33:00.000-07:00

The $5 million settlement of Woody Allen's publicity rights lawsuit against American Apparel, Inc. represents a resounding –- and unusually public -– defeat for the clothing company, which had argued there was “no concrete support” for damages between $5.68 million and $8.66 million.

The parties announced the settlement agreement May 18 as the case was going to trial, with American Apparel claiming that its insurance company had forced it to come to terms with Allen, who alleged its billboard advertising campaign featuring a still photo of him from the film “Annie Hall" was a “blatant misappropriation” of his image.

But only two weeks earlier, American Apparel had attacked Allen's claim for at least $5.68 million in damages. “Plaintiff has provided expert opinions which report that Plaintiff has been damaged in an amount between $5.68 million and $8.66 million,” the company said in a pretrial memorandum. “Plaintiff has offered no concrete support for this alleged damage.”

“To the contrary,” it continued, “this range vastly exceeds [emphasis added] both the fees Plaintiff has been paid to do commercial endorsements in the past and bona fide offers Mr. Allen has received to endorse products.”

The memo also emphasized that Allen's damages only “relate to images displayed on three billboards and a few banners for less than a week.”

In that context, the $5 million is nothing if not a windfall for Allen. Not only that, the settlement agreement was made public -– which is highly unusual in a celebrity litigation and strongly suggests American Apparel had realized that its aggressive pretrial strategy was not going to translate into a successful trial defense.

“Threats and press leaks by American Apparel designed to smear me did not work, and a scheme to call a long list of witnesses who had absolutely nothing to do with the case was also disallowed by the court,” Allen said in a statement.

Those witnesses included Allen's wife Soon-Yi Previn and her mother, actress Mia Farrow, who is his former companion. “I suspect this dose of legal reality led to their 11th-hour settlement,” he added.

American Apparel is nothing if not publicity-conscious. Last year, it reached a confidential settlement of a sexual harassment suit filed against CEO Dov Charney by a former employee which would have allowed Charney to tell the media that an arbitrator had ruled in his favor –- while concealing from the public that he had agreed to pay Mary Nelson $1.3 million.

The arbitration proceeding was a sham and the settlement unraveled after Nelson's attorney did not show up for it.

Charney issued a typically grandiose statement about the settlement of Allen's case, saying the billboard was a commentary on media sensationalism about his own allegedly scandalous sexual behavior. “My intention was to call upon people to see beyond media and lawsuit-inspired scandal, and to consider people for their true value and for their contribution to society,” he said.

American Apparel, though, chose not to test whether a jury would view the billboard as protected speech under the First Amendment or an attempt to sell clothing. According to Allen, the trial judge made it “clear that the court considered their phony First Amendment ranting and claims of parody sheer nonsense.”

A revised version of the defense's pretrial memo does not include the plaintiff's experts' range of damages. The defense removed the numbers from public view after Allen's lawyers said they were confidential under the terms of a protective order.

Taavo Ties the Knot.....

2009-08-15T11:20:00.000-07:00

Freeman's and Rusty Knot co-owner Taavo Somer talks about his failed busboy career, the proper use of porno paneling, and why he strives for simplicity when doing three jobs at once.

Point of Origin: I moved here when I was 27, for a job at Steven Holl Architects. And my first day was an immediate wake-up call that it wasn't gonna work out. I had been working in big firms for years, and this was my dream job. And when that disillusionment came, I thought: screw architecture. I'll do something else. A friend there knew Serge Becker. I thought I'd be a busboy, learn to tend bar. When I met him, he was like, "Why do you want to work in a bar? I have no busboy openings but I have a project." It turned out to be Lever House, which he was working on with John McDonald, and the designer Marc Newson. Serge didn't have a trained architect in his office, so he said, "Do this until a busboy position opens up!"

Occupations: I co-own Freeman’s and the Rusty Knot. I was going to throw a big New Year’s party at a club Serge was opening in Brooklyn. The club didn’t open in time, and Serge felt bad, so he introduced me to this space on Chrystie Street. The landlord was cool with the party, but he said we had to use the alley entrance off Rivington. As soon as I saw the alley, the party dissolved, and I wanted to open a café. I already had a concept for a restaurant, and I just put the concept in the space. That’s how Freeman’s came about. The Rusty Knot is a 1950s nautical bar, really mellow, cheap materials, cheap drinks, 50-cent pool table, free jukebox. It’s got porno paneling, you know, fake wood like the Calvin Klein basement ads. The building itself is pretty unremarkable. But if you find yourself being a snob about something, my instinct would be to embrace and explore it, and that’s when epiphanies occur. It’s born from the location on the West Side highway. It’s not beautiful.

Side Hustle: I never wanted to do just one thing. When I was first in New York I was spending a lot of time in NoLita, which back then was really kinda cool. I started going into Selvedge and lamenting with Carlos [Quirarte, now of The Smile] about the state of New York nightlife, how there’s no Mudd Club. Where was the good rock party? So we decided to throw our own at the Pussycat Lounge. I started making T-shirts. And we sold them at Selvedge. Then we got in trouble, because the owners didn’t know. But they sold out. If I didn’t have the discipline I learned from architecture I wouldn’t be making clothes today. Now, we have Freeman’s Sporting Club. I design suits and shirts. The aesthetic of the restaurant definitely influenced the aesthetic of the clothing and the store itself. There’s also a barbershop in the store, and we just opened another, FSC Barber, on Horatio Street.

Favorite Hangs: Between Freeman’s and the Rusty Knot, there’s only a couple of nights a week that I’m free. I go to the Spotted Pig, because it’s like family there. I usually eat dinner at Il Buco once a week. I still go to Frank and Lil’ Frankie’s once in awhile ... I have friends there. I go to a lot of the dive bars that I used to go to, like Joe’s Bar. In London I go to Rules, and in LA, for whatever reason, I like going to Dan Tana’s.

Industry Icons: Luc Levy, who owns Café Gitane. I love his set-up ... he’s got his spot, it’s been open for 11 years, one owner ... it’s an effortless business plan. Serge Becker, definitely. You could throw out ideas, and if he used it, he’d always credit you. This guy Jason Mclean from the old Loring Café, in Minneapolis. The place had Shakespeare one night, and a gypsy wedding the next, just weird shit happening. Freeman’s got its artichoke dip from there. Sean McPherson and Eric Goode, too. Even though they have a lot of projects, they’re still hands-on and obsessing about doorknobs. When I designed Gemma, I would go antiquing with them and saw just how much they labored over small details.

Known Associates: William Tigertt is my partner for Freeman’s and Freeman’s Sporting Club. My partner at the Rusty Knot is Ken Friedman, who also owns the Spotted Pig and is about to open John Dory. There are a lot of musicians that I love. My friends, kids I grew up with, are in the Hold Steady. I like what they’re doing. Their approach to music, in contrast with what’s happening in the rest of the industry, is really pretty awesome.

What are you doing tonight? I’ll be upstate. I have a house. I’ll just cook and hang out and garden.

KPL III...........

2009-08-12T16:25:00.000-07:00

I have not allowed myself, sir to look beyond the Union, to see what might lie hidden in the dark recess behind. I have not coolly weighed the chances of preserving liberty, when the bonds that unite us together shall be broken asunder. I have not accustomed myself to hang over the precipice of disunion, to see whether, with my short sight, I can fathom the depth of the abyss below; nor could I regard him as a safe counselor, in the affairs of this Government, whose thoughts should be mainly bent on considering, not how the Union should be best preserved, but how tolerable might be the condition of the people, when it shall be broken up and destroyed.

While the Union lasts, we have high, exciting, gratifying prospects spread out before us for us and our children. Beyond that, I seek not to penetrate the veil. God grant that, in my day, at least, that curtain may not rise. God grant that, on my vision, never may be opened what lies behind. When my eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union; on States dissevered, discordant, belligerent; on a land rent with civil feuds, or drenched, it may be, in fraternal blood! Let their last feeble and lingering glance, rather, behold the gorgeous ensign of the Republic, now known and honored throughout the earth, still full high advanced, its arms and trophies streaming in their original luster, not a stripe erased or polluted, nor a single star obscured, bearing for its motto no such miserable interrogatory as, What is all this worth? Nor those other words of delusion and folly, Liberty first and Union afterward; but everywhere, spread all over in characters of living light, blazing on all its ample folds, as they float over the sea and over the land, and in every wind under the whole heavens, that other sentiment, dear to every true American heart - Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!

L.A. to New York..........

2009-08-03T21:02:00.001-07:00

A time lapse video of a drive from L.A. to New York.
By Michel and Oliver Gondry

Produced for French Pop Star Laquer.

A Pure Gem.....

2009-08-03T07:52:00.000-07:00

1940's "Agency for Troy Hand Laundry" Painted Wooden Signage

Condition: Very good.
Dimensions: Ht. 33" W 16"

$1200-
Bykenyan Props

Sexy MJ.......

2009-07-31T14:27:00.000-07:00

Fetiche Motel......

2009-07-31T14:20:00.000-07:00

Located in Rondonopolis the Fetiche offers beautiful suites furnished with luxury and sophistication.

Suítes Motel Fetish - Suites

Obama Was Right About the Gates Arrest......

2009-07-28T11:38:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, President Obama weighed in on the arrest of African-American Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, saying a Cambridge police officer "acted stupidly" when he arrested Gates for disorderly conduct. The next day, Obama backed down from his harsh comment.

Obama was right the first time.

I don't know if the police officer arrested Gates because of the Harvard professor's race. A lot of white people would say that if they mouthed off to a cop, they too would be arrested.

But one thing is clear: Gates did not violate any law. Under Massachusetts law, which the police officer was supposedly enforcing, yelling at a police officer is not illegal.

There are clear decisions of the Massachusetts courts holding that a person who berates an officer, even during an arrest, is not guilty of disorderly conduct. And yet that is exactly what Gates was arrested for.

The Massachusetts statute defining "disorderly conduct" used to have a provision that made it illegal to make "unreasonable noise or offensively coarse utterance, gesture or display," or to address "abusive language to any person present." Yet the courts have interpreted that provision to violate the Massachusetts Constitution's guarantee of freedom of speech. So police cannot lawfully arrest a person for hurling abusive language at an officer.

In several cases, the courts in Massachusetts have considered whether a person is guilty of disorderly conduct for verbally abusing a police officer. In Commonwealth v. Lopiano, a 2004 decision, an appeals court held it was not disorderly conduct for a person who angrily yelled at an officer that his civil rights were being violated. In Commonwealth v. Mallahan, a decision rendered last year, an appeals court held that a person who launched into an angry, profanity-laced tirade against a police officer in front of spectators could not be convicted of disorderly conduct.

So Massachusetts law clearly provides that Gates did not commit disorderly conduct.

The Cambridge Police should be training their officers to know the difference between legal and illegal conduct. What Gates did was probably not so smart -- in general, be nice to people carrying guns -- but it wasn't disorderly conduct. At least not in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

That explains why the charges against Gates were dropped. It wasn't because the police were trying to defuse the situation. It was because Gates had done nothing illegal.

Arresting someone for doing something that isn't illegal is pretty stupid.

Then again, perhaps Obama was wrong. Maybe the police officer wasn't acting stupidly. He was just acting abusively. That is even worse.

Gregoire Alexandre.......

2009-07-28T06:31:00.000-07:00

At only 27 years old French photographer Gregoire Alexandre, has built an impressive portfolio, ranging from advertising to high end editorial, he creates some amazing sets and props, which helps him capture some beautiful images !

Gregoire Alexandre

Bykenyan Props

2009-07-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

2009-07-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

Todd Selby....

2009-07-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

The Selby features photographs, paintings and videos by Todd Selby of interesting people and their creative spaces

The Selby

“ Why do skinny girls have fat friends? ”

2009-07-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Even Skip Gates, even in Cambridge, even in 2009......

2009-07-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

Although the city of Cambridge, MA, yesterday dropped disorderly conduct charges against the distinguished black Harvard professor and scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., calling his arrest “regrettable and unfortunate,” outraged pundits and bloggers are calling it something else.

At the least, some say, Gates’ arrest July 20 was racial profiling. At worst, say others, it’s proof that the “post-racial” America that elected President Barack Obama is a mirage.

As the police report described the incident, Gates was arrested at his Harvard-owned rental home after a woman called 911 to report “two black males with backpacks on the porch.” One of them, she said, was “wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry.”

The police further said Gates refused to provide identification and yelled “this is what happens to black men in America” after a white cop – later identified as Sgt. James Crowley – told him they were responding to a break-in call. Gates then threatened the cop, police said, and he was arrested for “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior.”

Gates, in a prepared statement released by his lawyer, Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree, told a different tale:

He had just been driven home from Logan International Airport after returning from China, where he was filming a PBS documentary, Faces of America. When Gates and the driver tried to go in the front door but found it stuck, Gates used his key to go in the back door, turned off his security alarm, and tried again to open the front. Helped by the driver, he forced the door open and the driver carried in his bags.

While on the phone reporting the damage to his rental office, he saw a uniformed officer on his porch. The cop asked him to step out, but Gates stayed inside and asked why he was there. When he was told about the 911 report, Gates told the officer it was his home, and that he was a Harvard faculty member.

The officer asked him to prove it, and Gates turned to go into his kitchen to get his wallet. The policeman followed, and Gates gave him his university ID and driver’s license, showing the address. When Gates asked for the cop’s name and badge number, he went outside and the professor “was astonished to see several police officers gathered on his front porch.”

“Professor Gates asked the officer’s colleagues for his name and badge number. As Professor Gates stepped onto his front porch, the officer who had been inside and who had examined his identification said to him, ‘Thank you for accommodating my earlier request,’ then placed Professor Gates under arrest. He was handcuffed on his own front porch” and taken to the Cambridge Police Station, where he was held for four hours and released.

The city’s own statement said the incident “should not be viewed as one that demeans the character and reputation of Professor Gates or the character of the Cambridge Police Department.”

Not good enough, said the Rev. Jesse Jackson. “The charges have been dropped, but the stain remains,” he said, according to Reuters. “Humiliation remains. These incidents are so much of a national pattern on race.”

Toure, a columnist for The Daily Beast, was not so diplomatic. In a piece entitled Skip’s Racist Wakeup Call, he wrote that “this particular instance – legendary Harvard professor Henry Louis ‘Skip’ Gates, Jr., arrested on his own front porch – tells you that even if a black man is a brilliant, famous, rich, classy, Harvard professor who’s 58 years old, walking with a cane because of hip-replacement surgery, and ensconced in his own Cambridge home during the day, he can still be arrested. (W)e can put all that kumbaya we’re-post-racial crap in the toilet.”

Although Ogletree’s statement said Gates would have no further comment “at this time,” the scholar spoke for himself on the pages of The Root, an online magazine where he is editor in chief.

“I would sooner have believed the sky was going to fall from the heavens than I would have believed this could happen to me,” Gates said. “It shouldn’t have happened to me, and it shouldn’t happen to anyone.

“I’ll be meeting with my legal team, and we will be deciding what kind of legal action I should take. I haven’t made the decision yet. But I am determined that this experience, my experience, as horrendous as it was and as outrageous as it was, be used for the larger good of the black community. There are one million black men in the prison system, and on Thursday I became one of them.”

Gates added that he “thought the whole idea that America was post-racial and post-black was laughable from the beginning,” continuing, “There’s been a very important symbolic change and that is the election of Barack Obama, but the only black people who truly live in a post-racial world in America all live in a very nice house on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Gates is director of Harvard’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, and the Alphonse Fletcher university professor. He is the author of many scholarly works on the African-American experience, including Colored People: A Memoir and Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man.

2009-07-21T08:23:00.000-07:00

Merry Go Round....

2009-07-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

A 1920s C.W. Parker Carousel
$1250-
BYKENYAN PROPS

The Wolf Pack

2009-07-16T04:10:00.000-07:00

Wolves are an extremely social animal. They exist as a social unit called a pack.

Wolves travel and hunt in a group and perform almost all other activities in the company of fellow wolves.

The pack, the basic unit of wolf social life, is usually a family group. It is made up of animals related to each other by blood and family ties of affection and mutual aid.

The core of a pack is a mated pair of wolves - an adult male and female that have bred and produced young.

The other members of the pack are their offspring: young wolves ranging in age from pups to two and three-year-olds.

Pack sizes vary, most packs have 6 or 7 members, although some may include as many as 15 wolves. The size depends on many variables including the current numbers of the wolf population, the abundance of food, and social factors within the wolf pack.

Within each pack is an elaborate hierarchy. It may consist of a single breeding pair, the Alpha male and female, a lower group consisting of non-breeding adults, each with its own ranking, a group of outcasts, and a group of immature wolves on their way up. Some of the younger wolves of the pack may leave to find vacant territory and a mate.

Individual wolves in a pack play different roles in relation to the others in the group. The parent wolves are the leaders of the pack - the alpha male and alpha female. (Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet.)

The alpha male and female are the oldest members of the pack and the ones with the most experience in hunting, defending territory, and other important activities.

The other pack members respect their positions and follow their leadership in almost all things, The alpha wolves are usually the ones to make decisions for the pack when the group should go out to hunt or move from one place to another.

The other Pack members all have positions in the hierarchy inferior to those of the alpha male and female. The young adult wolves, who are the grown-up offspring of the alpha pair, have their own special roles under the leadership or their parents. Some of them me able to "boss around," or dominate, their sisters and brothers because they have established themselves as superior in some way. This superiority might be physical-larger size or greater strength - but it can be based on personality Dominant wolves in the pack usually have more aggressive and forceful personalities than their relatives of the same age.

The juveniles and pups-wolves under two years old do not occupy permanent positions within the pack hierarchy. They all take orders from their parents and older brothers and sisters, but their relationships with each other change frequently. During their play and other activities, they are constantly testing one mother to find out who will eventually be "top wolf" in their age group.

Relationships among creatures that live close together in groups are often very complicated, like members of a wolf pack. Studies of captive wolves and wolf packs in the wild have shown that many complex rules of behavior seem to govern the way that the animals relate us each other, the methods that wolves use to communicate with fellow pack members are also quite elaborate.

2009-07-16T04:06:00.000-07:00

A zombie is a mythical creature that appears in folklore and popular culture typically as a reanimated corpse or a mindless human being. Stories of zombies originated in the Afro-Caribbean spiritual belief system of Vodou, which told of the people being controlled as laborers by a powerful sorcerer. Zombies became a popular device in modern horror fiction, largely because of the success of George A. Romero's 1968 film Night of the Living Dead.^[1]

From Wikipedia

Dash Snow.....

2009-07-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

RIP

2009-06-30T20:37:00.001-07:00

Famed TV Pitchman Billy Mays died....

2009-06-28T11:54:00.000-07:00

Here is man that could have sold ice cream and popsicles to Eskimos,
Mays' energetic pitches were famous. He always seemed to be one second shy of a an aneurysm. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that as the reason he passed. He could get you excited to watch grass grow. He was that good.

“Billy Mays here for Fashion Fools Us”. Ahhh that would have been something great to hear. R.I.P Billy.

R.I.P. MJ...........

2009-06-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

The Filipino inmates who shot to global fame with a YouTube video of their "Thriller" dance swayed and stomped again Saturday in a behind-bars tribute to their idol, Michael Jackson.

After being told of Jackson's death Thursday in Los Angeles, the 1,500 inmates at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center hit the exercise yard, practicing for nine hours Friday night -- and into the wee hours of Saturday morning -- for the show. They took breaks only to eat or when it rained, said professional choreographer Gwendolyn Lador, hired by the prison to teach the inmates the dance.

"I felt sad because we lost our idol," said inmate Wenjiel Resane, who plays the role of Jackson's girlfriend in the video.

Crisanto Nieri, 38, was feeling a little extra stress. He danced Jackson's part in "Thriller."

"Even as a kid, he was already my idol," said Nieri, who is serving seven years on drug charges. "I am happy that our video became famous, but I feel some pressure to perform well."

A crowd of 700 Cebuanos and foreign tourists watched the performance from a second-floor corridor, swaying to the music and applauding as the inmates, dressed in orange prison T-shirts and sweat pants, stomped and clapped in unison in the hilltop prison, behind thick stone walls topped by electrified razor wire.

Other numbers included "Ben," "I'll Be There" and "We Are the World." The inmates then held up a 5-by-10 foot (1.5-by-3 meter) tarpaulin showing Michael Jackson holding a sword with his name written below it.

Others waved the flags of the Philippines and other nations.

Before the show, the performers dedicated a prayer to Jackson's family.

"I was sad because one of the songs of Michael Jackson, `Thriller,' made us famous around the world," said Francis Mercader, 36, who has spent a year in detention while on trial for drug charges.

Byron Garcia, the Cebu provincial security consultant who came up with the idea of adding synchronized dancing to poorly attended exercise sessions, said he was surprised by the popularity of the 2007 video -- one of more than a dozen inmate dance numbers he has posted on YouTube.

"Thriller" has attracted 24.3 million hits since it was posted two years ago, with nearly a million of them in the 24 hours since news of Jackson's death spread.

The inmates "consider Michael Jackson as a god here," Garcia said. "If not for Michael Jackson, they would not have this international recognition."

"The fame brought them back their self-esteem," he told reporters. "So that's why we have these public performances."

Inmate Alfredo Gaballo, 52, says Jackson "inspired us, so we are all sad about his death."

"The performance today has been amazing," said Karen Benrad, 29, from London. She and about two dozen foreign and local tourists later joined the inmates at the prison quadrangle, dancing to the tune of "Macarena" and "I just can't get enough."

Kim Hua-sung, a 23-year-old South Korean student in Cebu who watched the inmates' performance, said he is also a Jackson fan. "I'm sad that I can't listen to more songs from him."

In Taiwan, two top Michael Jackson impersonators donned fedora hats and sequined outfits Saturday, moonwalking to "Billie Jean" in their own tribute to the pop star.

Thirty-year-old Wang Chih-wei told The Associated Press he secured a photo op with his idol during Jackson's whirlwind tour in 1993 after winning an impersonation contest.

"I didn't know much English so I could only tell him, 'I love you,'" Wang said. "He was very friendly. I melted when he put his hand on my shoulder for the photo."

TR......

2009-06-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

I've had the opportunity to work with Terry Richardson on numerous occasions, as well as observe him working with talent. I put him at the top of the list as far as getting people to feel comfortable in front of the camera. That's how he creates such an amazing realness and intimacy in his photography. As a director there's many facets to the position, but in my opinion the single most important is making your subject feel comfortable in front of the camera. There's an unexplainable trust between the person behind the camera and the talent in front of the camera. When the trust isn't there the results are disastrous. When the bond is strong the viewer loses himself in the world that is a great photograph, music video, or film because at that point there is no lens. Part cheerleader, part therapist, part friend... The director's job is to get to that comfort level as soon as possible. Sometimes we have weeks to prep this relationship in the form of script readings, rehearsals, and dinners. Other times we only have days in the form of conference calls, e-mails, and text messages. And occasionally you're meeting talent the second before you shoot them.

At the end of the day it's all about communication. All great relationships master the art of communication. When the natural boundary we put up between each other is broken then the opportunity for a great friendship or a great music video is absolute. Here's to breaking the lens...

The King’s not dead. Yet........

2009-06-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

There are very few things in life which are absolute, undeniable facts. You are born. You will die.

After that things get a bit hazy.

We can’t necessarily be sure that the sun will rise tomorrow morning or that if it does, that we’ll be around to see it. We can’t be certain that there is a god (or gods), that we are alone in the universe or that there is any meaning to life. And, of course, you can never be sure of the weather.

There are, however, some things which will occur with a metronomic, mechanical reliability without any reason or rhyme, but which, in their consistency, are a comforting little reminder among the chaos of life that there are some things that will never change.

The queue you are in will always be slower the other one you were thinking about joining. It will always rain when you forget your umbrella. The bus will never turn up until you’ve decided to walk, and no matter what a politician says, your life will never, ever really change.

And here is another one: Come nuclear rain, come famine, come the apocalypse, Michael Jackson will always sell out any gig he plays in seconds and will always have an army of rabid fans who will pay incredible amounts of money for the smallest bit of tat and would happily follow him through the valley of death and back.

MJ has announced a comeback from his self imposed exile and chosen a residency at the 02 Arena to do so. Inevitably, before the tickets have even gone on sale, the promoters are anticipating selling out all the dates immediately, and having to arrange extra dates due to demand. Amazing, when you consider we don’t even know what those dates are. They’re even urging fans to queue from 1pm for a 4pm press conference at the Arena itself on the subject.

What I want to know is who on earth these people are that spend squillions on the tickets and why?!?

I mean look at the man....

Just… Just look at him.

I’ve been mildly fascinated by Michael Jackson in a “slow down while driving past the car crash” kind of way since seeing the Martin Bashir 2003 documentary Living with Michael Jackson. He’s clearly a very talented guy, but he’s also, clearly, very unwell. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work that out and it probably doesn’t need me to add my voice to the chorus there, but if it’s so obvious, who are these people who still buy his music, memorabilia and gig tickets?

He’s not the performer he once was and neither is he the musician of his 80s heyday. He’s still a star of course, but things have gone from bad to worse to hellish to a living nightmare for him. He’s bankrupt, lost his ranch and possessions, hounded for every inch of every second he goes outside and quite clearly living on a different planet to the rest of the human race. He’s also obviously surrounded by people who do not have his best intentions at heart and has become a one-man living, breathing, media circus. Suicide or a killing spree are surely a dead cert at some point. If they haven’t happened already. God knows what he’s been up to in Dubai.

Still, I guess the logic on his part is understandable. Besides, comebacks and reunions are in vogue at the moment, but what I just cannot work out is the public’s appetite for it. I don’t think that I have met a single Michael Jackson fan in my life. At least not knowingly and not since I was seven. From which corners of this country’s green and pleasant lands are these people going to emerge to inevitably sell out the 02, night after night after night?

They’ll come and they’ll do it, lets make no mistake about that. They’ll rise like some unholy army of the night and troop to the dome under his spell, perhaps stopping briefly to buy a T-shirt or a poster before becoming reabsorbed into the irresistible tide of mindlessness. And then the next day they’ll walk among us and we’ll be none the wiser. It could be the bus driver or the person ahead of you in the queue. It could even be someone as achingly unhip as Gordon Brown or David Cameron. Or the guy from the yellow party. You know the one. The one whose name no-one can remember.

It’s like witnessing some cult or masonic group in action and it’s all a bit unsettling. I’m watching through my fingers to see the blind leading the blind through a field simply signposted with a large skull and cross-bones. This can’t end well and I may have to retreat behind the sofa soon.

Still, I’m not likely to actually see him unless he drops by the Half Moon pub at the end of my road, so every cloud has it’s silver lining. I just hope that I’m wrong and this bout of holding court with his adoring public doesn’t finish him off completely. The cynic in me gives it exactly two weeks before the next scandal emerges and breaks him though.

The King of pop is not dead.

Yet.

You wouldn’t bet against it soon though, would you?

2009-06-20T22:12:00.001-07:00

Tankball: Armoured paintball battles.......

2009-06-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

My first paintball battle taught me an important lesson: Women are dangerous. I don't mean in the usual psychological sense, I mean in the "lurk around quietly with a sniper rifle and calmly massacre the enemy" kind of way. I dread to see what would happen in a "friendly" guys vs. girls mechanized battle.

Southfields farm, near Husbands Bosworth in Leicestershire has a long history of paintball competitions. Farm owner Stuart Garner recently decided to up the ante with the purchase of five FV432 Armoured Personnel Carriers -- conveniently outfitted with gun turrets and custom-made 40mm ping pong firing paintball cannons. Armourgeddon has well and truly arrived:

"Their chosen ammunition, fired by compressed air, would be paint-filled ping-pong balls.

The first attempt blasted a ball into orbit. [Cannon inventor Jez Smith] lost sight of it after a mile-and-a-half when it passed the church spire. It also sent a small potato through the sound barrier. Over time, he calmed it to a legal and relatively modest 200mph. Jez then designed a 40mm, 8ft steel barrel to slot into the turret and the company now has five. 'Obviously, these aren't proper guns with rifled barrels or they'd be illegal,' says Stuart, 38. 'But a ping-pong ball full of liquid doing 300ft per second is lethal. That's why we operate with sealed hatches."

The cost for a couple of hours of heart-pounding tank warfare is anything but lethal: a 2 hour tank battle costs a reasonable £55 per person, as does a 45 minute driving lesson.

Just Lick it .........

2009-06-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

In (dubious) honor of the man who more than 1,000 British women voted as the celebrity they would "most like to lick," Del Monte has created this tasty treat: Daniel Craig - aka James Bond - in three flavors: Blueberry, Bomegrante, and Cherry.

Del Monte created this lo-cal stick o'joy in honor of the first annual Ice Cream Week (July 1-7), although for some of us, of course, every week is ice cream week.

Makes you wonder what the company would come up with for National Sausage Month.