Joan and Melissa Rivers (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
Post Oscar hangovers are never fun… Trust. I’ve been covering them for 10 years! But this year was different. Not so bad. Even though – let’s be honest, seven days into a nine day journey, you are ready to run for the hill. And by hills, I mean Appalachian, Eastern Hills. Except for the fact that I came back from Rainy LA to monsoon-y New York. I mean… Okay, okay. I got two good days of beautiful Spring weather before my boots were soaked and once again I had to forsake fashion for Tretorn rain galoshes.
I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of love and support during the recent Olympic Games. The 2010 Olympics will be a memory that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I feel that I skated two of the best performances of my career, making my coaches, my family and, above all, myself very proud. But I would not have been able to skate the way I did without the encouragement of my fans worldwide.
And while I am still embracing my Olympic memories and have the momentum to move forward, I have decided that it is not advantageous at this time for me to partake in the World Championships in Torino, Italy. After my sixth place finish in Vancouver, I believe that I must take time to reassess my strategies and goals. While I understand the importance of competition, I feel that a short break at this time would be personally beneficial to me. I know all may not share my stance, but I can assure everyone that I will be re-energized after I’ve had time to rework my technique. I want to be a better competitor and win medals for my country and I hope everyone can respect my decision to take this time off.
Once again, I want to thank everyone who supported me this season. Specifically, I would like to thank my coaches Galina Zmievskaya, Viktor Petrenko, Nina Petrenko, Priscilla Hill and David Wilson for helping me make my Olympic dreams a reality. I would also like to thank my family and friends for their never-ending support. Finally, I want my fans to know that I love them and I work every day to make them proud. I will continue to work hard and I hope my work for next season will be the most exciting of my career.
The generations that grew up with the old school Nintendo gaming experience will particularly enjoy this interactive zoomable map of New York City created by Brett Camper that mimics the look and feel of the 8-bit video games from that era. Camper explains:
8-bit NYC is an attempt to make the city feel foreign yet familiar, smashing together two culturally common models of space: the lo-fi overhead world maps of 1980s role-playing and adventure games, and the geographically accurate data that drives today’s web maps and GPS navigation. I hope to evoke the same urge for exploration, abstract sense of scale, and perhaps most importantly excitement that many of us remember experiening on the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Commodore 64, or any other number of 8-bit microcomputers.
He’s absolutely right. Looking and playing with the map makes me want to grab a sword and shield and collect the pieces of the Triforce before Link can get to them.
In the MoMA’s Atrium Marina Abramovic sits at a wooden table dressed in a high-necked, long-sleeved navy blue dress that gathers in a pool of fabric at her feet. She’s lit on all sides by 5ks – big, bright, hot lights. Her face is serene and statuesque, her gaze completely focused, and you’re welcome to take the chair on the other side of the table and sit with her for as long as you like.
Meanwhile the rest of her retrospective, “The Artist is Present,” is happening upstairs, and really, it’s a happening.
Mattel is set to release four new Barbies ($75 each!) based on characters from Mad Men this coming July to coincide with the start of the show’s fourth season. There’s main character Don Drapper and his soulless wife Betty, company head Roger Sterling and his one-time mistress and office manager extraordinaire, Joan Holloway. While Mattel chose to leave out the “inappropriate,” sinful accessories like martinis, packs of Lucky Strike, and silk panties in suit pockets that are ever-present on the show, it’s still a bold choice for the company to celebrate such a debauched group of alcoholic adulterers. But then again, Barbie was created in 1959, right around the time Mad Men takes place — a time when women were expected to simply look pretty and shut up, make a nice home, and expect their husbands to cheat. So maybe this licensing agreement is not so bold, maybe it’s just eerily perfect.
Just came across several interesting tidbits on green-themed documentary films currently in the works, so thought I’d share them all at one time.
Crowd funding green films:Tree Media Group, which produced THE 11TH HOUR with Leonardo DiCaprio, is trying out a different mechanism for raising money for two planned documentaries: crowd funding. If you check out the sites for URBAN ROOTS, which follows the growth of urban farming in Detroit, or INTO EDEN, which explores environmental crisis from the perspective of human consciousness, you’ll see NPR-like fund raising appeals. This is a model that’s currently being tried for all sorts of media — Spot.us is a great example of crowd funding for journalism, for instance — so we’ll be interested to see how well this works.
San Francisco-based artist Dan Kenneally’s “Lunch Box” collection is a series of 18” x 18” acrylic abstract paintings where each sandwich’s ingredients are stripped down to their most fundamental. And yet they still look delicious, especially the ice cream sandwich.
The world went crazy the other day over the release of Lady Gaga’s video for “Telephone.” It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but it is insane. Everyone, haters and lovers alike, can agree that video is nuts. Bananas. Nuts and bananas.
I think that Gaga’s talent as a musician is often overshadowed by her costumes. And shoes. And wigs. And lit-cigarette sunglasses. It is hard sometimes to notice she actually sings. And writes. And plays instruments. Thankfully Buzzfeed found these 5 diverse and incredible versions of Gaga’s Telephone. They’re all different styles. The closest to the original, by the band Alphabeat, who are opening up for Gaga in Europe, is my favorite. I think it bests Gaga’s. The other five are all worth checking out too.
Craig Gleason has been doctoring George in the likeness of Lady Gaga and the results are fantastic. One could say that I’m absolutely gaga over them. View more here and you can buy them at Craig’s (slightly NSFW) blog.
Cristina Mortágua has just posed topless. That wouldn’t be that big a deal–except the photo also features her being embraced by her fifteen year old son. Is this toeing the line towards incest–or is it just something us prudes should get over and accept as art? [globo.com]
Dublin-based creative ad agency Boys and Girls put together this sweet conference table using LEGO bricks (22,742 total). View more photos here and check out a time lapse Making-of video after the jump.
“70 Million”, is a song by the Franco-American band Hold Your Horses! It takes viewers on a journey through art history reconstructing famous paintings. The look and feel is similar to our own Green Porno. It will make you smile. Mark my words.
Joan and Melissa Rivers (Photo by Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)
“
