Nightclub-going New Yorkers owe a giant, heartfelt shout out to Rudy Giuliani. We should belatedly thank Rudy for his crackdown on “smut” and anything else that veered from traditional family values when he was a strict, disciplinarian mayor from 1994 through 2001. After all, it was that very gloss-over that led to an explosion of neo-burlesque sexual posturing in clubs all over town!
As porn shops were shuttered and escorts were driven to the Internet, loft parties and underground boites responded with strippers and other acts catering to everyone’s sex drives by turning genital-related amusement into performance art. For every sex palace that was bulldozed and reopened as a comedy club, there were suddenly a dozen ecdysiasts popping up at the Lower East Side’s hangout the Slipper Room and artful disrobers like Julie Atlas Muz and Dirty Martini were shaking their tatas for applause and dollars all over town. Thanks, Rudy!
But here’s the really shocking thing: In 2010, neo-burlesque still rules the scene.
I just came across this remarkable albeit slightly depressing story, especially during this upcoming holiday celebrating coupledom, about a lonely solitary whale somewhere out there in the big blue ocean. Tracked since 1992, this whale has been cruising the Pacific ocean emitting a song and call at around 52 hertz, which does not match any known whale species.
Team members and other experts have proposed a host of explanations for the whale sounds, among them that the animal is malformed or, most likely, is a hybrid of a blue whale and another species.
Ms. Daher said that as word of the paper has spread, she has gotten a host of e-mail messages, some from whale lovers lamenting the notion of a lonely heart of the cetacean world. Some messages have come from deaf people speculating that the whale might share their disability.
Keep your hopes up, whale buddy. As we humanfolk say, “There are plenty of fish in pond.” You can listen to the 52-hertz whale call here.
If you read the New York Times blog “Abstract City,” then you know him by name. If you’ve ever looked at a cover of The New Yorker you’ve probably seen his work. And if you’ve done neither then perhaps you can at least appreciate when a bathroom is clearly marked “Men” or “Women;” If you do you share a fundamental principle with designer, illustrator and art director Christoph Niemann. Like a good comedian, Neimann’s deceptively simple designs have a way of presenting common knowledge in a new and interesting way. Of course, an intuitive sense of color and composition don’t hurt.
In addition to the distinction of having two first names in her full name, Lisa Courtney also holds the Guiness World Record for the largest Pokemon collection in the world with 12,113 items of Pokemon merchandise that she has accumulated over the past 13 years. She is 21 years young. I wonder if she lists this in her resume.
The New York Times collected some valentines written by or to famous New Yorkers. They are quite touching and eloquent, especially the poem that E.B. White wrote to his wife, Katharine Sergeant White. A former New Yorker editor, “in a penciled notation, Katharine recognized it as a rondeau, a French lyrical poem with an unusual rhyme scheme — “and a perfect one” at that.”
Back in high school, my classmates and I noticed that our biology teacher was doing this neat pen-spinning hand trick while she was lecturing. Afterwards, we bugged her to teach us and for the next couple of weeks, we drove everyone nuts as we tried to learn this trick. We finally succeeded and we thought we were awesome. Now that I’ve seen this video of Hong Kong kids in an extremely competitive pen spinning competition, I feel decidedly unawesome because these kids are incredible. What they are able to do with a pen will make your head spin.
This was my favorite part of the video, when the interviewer asked, “Can you write with this pen?”
Before the play begins the director walks on stage and explains a few things about the production to the audience. But because you’ve been prepped to expect that “You’re Welcome: A cycle of bad plays,” the latest from the inimitable foursome at The Debate Society, will, no doubt, involve a few bad play gags, you go along with it. But then, after the director leaves the stage and comes back again and again to tell you just a few more specifics, like the fact that the play we’re about to see involves an imaginary door, a retractable knife and is bound to be very funny but the actors are professionals and our laughter won’t disturb them, you realize that this, the director’s back and forth, is the play. Which of course we already know since in the opening titles we were told that Play #1 is “The Director Ruins the Play.”
Johnny Weir poses for a portrait during the NBC/USOC Promotional Photo Shoot on May 12, 2009 at Smashbox Studios
With the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver just a week away, SUNfiltered will bring you a “Weir Roundup” whenever possible that will not only feature the latest news on Johnny, but also interesting video clips. In this edition, we’ll be showcasing Johnny’s vocal talents and a recently made-available video of Johnny’s routine to Jordin Sparks’ live performance of “Battlefield.” In the upcoming days, we’ll be highlighting other notable exhibition routines, as well career-making performances like “The Swan.”
– Johnny and acclaimed photographer and music video director Matthew Rolston come together in a promo shoot for BE GOOD JOHNNY WEIR. Check out the final product and behind-the-scenes footage on Full Frontal Fashion.
– Ryan McGinely showcases a photo portfolio entitled “The Highfliers” featuring Shaun White, Johnny Weir, Emily Cook, and more in the latest edition of NY Times Magazine. All the athletes featured are wearing custom Rodarte knitwear which can bee seen here.
Those floppy discs which were so instructive in the formative years of my education in elementary school are given a second chance instead of wasting away in a landfill. Artist Nick Gentry creates these really fantastic portraits using floppy discs as a canvas.
You could say that Ori Gersht lives in the past, but unlike other artists who may make reference to their heritage in some small, personal way, Gersht is more like an art detective/historian. Take Evaders, his latest series of photographs, currently on view at Mummery + Schnelle in London. At first glance you see an amazing landscape, shrouded in mist, the colors bright and sharp, reminiscent, perhaps, of the allegorical paintings of the 19th century German Romantics. But when you learn that this isn’t just any old mountain, that it’s the Pyrenes, and that it’s not just any old passage within the Pyrenes, that it’s the Lister Route, the photographs can’t help but carry deeper significance.
One blogger collected over 20 different covers to recently deceased author J.D. Salinger’s influential book “Catcher in the Rye.” It’s interesting to see the wide ranging approach designer took in coming up with covers in re-issues of this seminal book. In addition, The New Yorker opened their archives, typically available only to paying subscribers, so the public can now read all thirteen stories by Salinger that were published in their magazine between 1946 to 1965. You can also wear a t-shirt or sweatshirt from Holden’s fictional alma mater, Pencey Prep.
