A Clockwork Box-Office
How Stanley Kubrick Invented the Modern Box-Office Report (By Accident)
by Mike Kaplan
Stanley Kubrick believed that “filmmaking is an exercise in problem solving.” He meant that to include the distribution and marketing of his films as well as their production, and he devoted more time and effort to managing the release of his films than any other director. In my view, it’s one of the reasons he made only 13 films in 46 years. He relished the problem-solving.
I spent two years overseeing the marketing of Kubrick’s 1968 masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey, devising its successful 70-mm. relaunch strategy, before joining him in England to handle the release of A Clockwork Orange. Our collaboration began shortly after Clockwork wrapped and lasted through its December 1971 premiere, its official U.S. release date of February 2, 1972, and throughout its extended rollout. With Stanley’s rare combination of meticulousness and creativity, we achieved what we set out to accomplish — but the most influential result of our collaboration was unexpected.
Stanley had a computerized system to track theaters and grosses based on technical information he had acquired while developing HAL 9000, the all-knowing computer in 2001. For months these stories persisted in the trades as the roster of Clockwork cinemas was refined. They were neither confirmed nor denied.
In March 1972, after the first 25 Clockwork engagements had established new house records, I was in my Burbank office at Warner Bros. when Stanley called, sounding serious.
“Mike, I just got a call from Abel Green.”
Abel Green was the legendary editor of Variety and the most respected and important figure in the trade press.
“What did he want?,” I asked, nervously.
“He asked about the computer system because he wants to adapt it for Variety.” Trade stories of Stanley hoodwinking the studio raced through my mind.
“What did you say?,” I replied, already planning damage control.
His tone changed; there was a twinkle in his voice. “I told him how we had done it, how necessary the information was for the business and what computers could do the job. He was very appreciative.”
Stanley was in top form.
Marlborough’s All-Star Group Show
See Cindy Sherman and Others Celebrate the Art of Fiction in Marlborough’s All-Star Group Show
WHAT: “Blind Cut,” curated by Jonah Freeman and Vera Neykov
WHEN: Opening Jan. 19 – Feb. 18, Tuesday-Saturday 10am – 5:30pm
WHERE: Marlborough Gallery Chelsea, 545 West 25th St., New York
WHY THIS SHOW MATTERS: As news of art forgeries is scattered across the web and legal questions arise with regards to the use appropriation in art, Marlborough Chelsea stages the appropriately timed exhibition “Blind Cut.” The ambitious group show brings together an impressive guest-list of contributing artists and borrowed works that delve into varying forms of fiction. From renderings by the Italian radical architectural firm Superstudio to French faux artist collective Claire Fontaine and surrealist film master Luis Buñuel, “Blind Cut” embraces work that focuses on invention, persona, utopia, and authorship.
Not only is the list of featured artists full of super-stars, like Cindy Sherman, Ed Ruscha, Sherrie Levine, Ryan Gander, and Francis Picabia (among others), but the contributor list for the accompanying publication is full of heavy-hitters as well. Prolific science-fiction writer and the creator of numerous literary fictitious worlds J.G. Ballard and exaggerative memoirist James Frey write complimentary essays and interviews.
The Second Coolest Shower Curtain Ever
The Dave Eggers shower curtain
The Thing, the quarterly that issues objects that are art-ish or connected to literature, will publish a short story shower curtain by Dave Eggers later this month. It is The Thing Issue 16. Previous issues of The Thing include a cutting board seared with a short story by Starlee Kine, a Miranda July window shade, and a pair of glasses to go with Jonathan Lethem’s novel “Chronic City” — all of which have sold out.
Eight year-old Hardcore
Finch on McWhinnie
John McWhinnie
BOOKWORLD
by Charlie Finch
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The loss of book dealer, promoter, collector and champion John McWhinnie in a water accident last weekend at a young age is a devastating one to those who love books, especially old books, which, these days, is just about every book. The smell of the paper, the design of the cover, the tattered pages and convenient cocktail napkin employed as a bookmark, all experiences before the reading, remain the hallmarks of John, as presentable and gracious a fellow as ever walked Park Avenue.
His exhibitions were first rate; John Waters, Brigid Berlin, James Frey. I went to Jack Hanley’s amazing “Diggers” show at his Watts Street gallery last Friday and was again reminded that the literary collectibles from the 1960s that I have in my library are now as old as the Civil War, turning to dust at McWhinnie’s untimely death. McWhinnie’s emporiums, on East 64th Street and in East Hampton, their stock supplemented by the great bent bibliophile Richard Prince, were the Elaine’s or the Mortimer’s of fading bookland.
McWhinnie Gone
John McWhinnie, Rare Book Dealer, Dies
At a friend’s wedding in 2005, John McWhinnie once distilled some love letters that Orson Welles had written to Rita Hayworth in the 1940s and read the short passage to the assembled guests.
McWhinnie, a New York dealer, scholar and collector of rare 20th century books, letters and ephemera, died on Friday.
“He figured out a way to make 60-year old mail feel completely contemporary,” said the friend, Bill Powers, a New York gallery owner.
McWhinnie, who was 43 years old, drowned during a snorkeling accident while on vacation in the British Virgin Islands with his wife Maria Beaulieu, a jewelry designer, said an aide to his business partner, Glenn Horowitz. Beaulieu survived.
McWhinnie served as adviser and dealer to artists and executives on their art and book buying, including contemporary artist Richard Prince, novelist James Frey and Daniel Loeb, a hedge fund manager.
“He has been one of the primary forces to bridge the gap between the art world and the establishment rare book world,” said Sheelagh Bevan, assistant curator of printed books at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York. “He was usually two years ahead of everyone else in elevating an overlooked group of artists or writers–Mary Beach comes to mind, but there are many others–to the point where institutions and private collectors took notice.”
“When he died he took with him so much specialized knowledge that will be lost to the dustbin of history,” Frey said.
Stuffed Veal Rolls With Mushrooms and Onions
Police Say She Was Drunk
Woman Scratches, Rubs Butt Over $30M Painting
Police say she was drunk
by Greg Wilson
AP
This work by Clyfford Still, titled “D No. 1,” was not damaged by a drunken woman.
A Colorado woman dropped her pants at a museum and rubbed her rear end all over a painting valued at $30 million, according to police.
Carmen Tisch, 36, was arrested after scratching, punching and, well, rubbing her butt against Clyfford Still’s “1957-J no.2” and causing an estimated $10,000 damage to the artwork at the Clyfford Still Museum in Denver. Police believe she was drunk during the late December incident.
The oil-on-canvas abstract expressionist painting was spared additional damage when the woman tried to urinate on it but apparently missed. “It doesn’t appear she urinated on the painting or that the urine damaged it, so she’s not being charged with that,” Kimbrough said according to the Denver Post.
James Frey’s Winter Reading List
James Frey’s Reading List: 6 Books You Need This Winter
Even if one of your New Year’s resolutions wasn’t to read more, we think we could all benefit from less Bachelor-watching and more Bovary. PS, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was a book first. Jersey Shorewasn’t.
To help you get your literature on during the long, dark winter nights, we turned to author James Frey for awinter-reading hit-list. Whether you’re a fan of Frey or not, we think his six picks, which range from a tale of models-turned-terrorists to a kid’s book you’ll want to steal from your nephew, are the perfect (equally gripping) alternatives to, say, Emily Thorne’s quest for vengeance. PPS: Us Weekly doesn’t count as reading, either.
People Are Awesome
Happy New Apocalypto
2012
Have A Holly, Jolly Download
from MediaBistro’s eBOOKNEWSER
HarperCollins Saw 100 Thousand eBook Downloads on Christmas Day
By Nate Hoffelder on December 29, 2011 4:02 PM
It looks like everyone had a record number of eBook downloads on Christmas day. HarperCollins reported yesterday that their servers are just beginning to recover from the many new customers who downloaded eBooks this weekend.
Over 100,000 eBooks published by HarperCollins UK were downloaded on that single day. This was both a record high as well as over times as high as the average daily downloads during December 2011.
TY-LöR BORING: “Jesus as a hunky construction worker in the modern day Bronx. I couldn’t put this book down for 2 days.”
Looking Back At 2011 With Ty-Lör Boring
12.28.2011
BY OUT.COM EDITORS
The ‘Top Chef’ star shares his 2011 favorites
While the ferocious competition and mysterious appeal of Tom Colicchio are usually reason enough for us to tune into Top Chef, there has been something else keeping us enraptured this season: Ty-Lör Boring.
The super cute and openly gay chef, who toils in a West Village kitchen but has done some side work, including modeling for Butt magazine, has been such an enjoyable part of our TV watching this year, we asked him to share his own Top 10 list from 2011.
Favorite Vacation: Culebra, Puerto Rico .
I hadn’t been on a proper vacation in 5 years and before filming Top Chef I took a week off on the beach. It’s completely off the grid which is nothing short of amazing.
Favorite Celebrity Crush: Brian Wilson.
Maybe it was his roommate dressed up as a gimp during a sports interview. Maybe it’s the tights. Maybe it’s the beard. In any case, I am a fan.
Favorite Cocktail: Caipirinha.
Lime, sugarcane, cachaça. In the middle of winter nothing reminds me of the middle of summer like this cocktail.
Favorite Music: “Internet Friends” by Knife Party.
DJ Vito Fun remixed this track for release next summer on Fire Island and I can’t stop dancing to it.
Favorite Book: The Final Testament of the Holy Bible by James Frey.
Jesus as a hunky construction worker in the modern day Bronx. I couldn’t put this book down for 2 days.
Favorite Secret Weapon: Worcestershire Sauce.
I came across a recipe for making your own a while back and have some batches in my wine cellar approaching 4 years old. It makes the cheapest steak taste like 90-day dry-aged waygu.
Frankenthaler Gone
Abstract Artist Helen Frankenthaler Dies Age 83
by JOEL ROSE
Gordon Parks / Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
At a time when the art world was still dominated by men, Helen Frankenthaler’s abstract canvasses earned the respect of critics and influenced generations of artists. One of the major abstract expressionist painters of the 20th century, Frankenthaler died Tuesday at her home in Connecticut. She was 83 years old.
In the early 1950s, Frankenthaler started painting with her canvasses flat on the floor after seeing Jackson Pollock do it. She liked the gesture and the attitude of working on the floor, she told NPR in 1988, “but I wanted to work with shapes in a very different way.”
Frankenthaler developed her own technique of pouring diluted paint directly onto canvas, then manipulating it with mops and sponges to create vivid fields of color.
“What evolved for me had to do with pouring paint and staining paint,” Frankenthaler explained. “It’s a kind of marrying the paint into the woof and weave of the canvas itself, so that they become one and the same.”
Starting with the 1952 masterpiece Mountains and Sea,Frankenthaler produced a body of work that was a major influence on the painters of the 1960s and beyond.
“She really helped pull art out of the angst and trauma of the abstract expressionists, the wartime generation, and into a lighter, more lyrical kind of modernism,” says Betsy Broun, who directs the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. “I think it was a relief, a liberation.”
Greece Still Raking In The Dough
Greek coin lot set to fetch millions
By Susan Moore
While investors across the globe are preoccupied by the fate of Greece’s currency, a British collection of just a few hundred Greek coins is predicted to fetch millions of dollars when auctioned next month in New York.
Described by Paul Hill of Baldwin’s, the London coin dealer, as “the most important collection of ancient Greek coins to appear on the market in almost a quarter of a century”, the 642-piece Prospero Collection will go under the hammer on January 4.
Arguably the rarest and most spectacular coin in the collection is the facing head gold stater of Pantikapaion, a colony on the Black Sea. An example has not been seen at auction in living memory, and the coin bears a conservative estimate of $650,000.
The collection is one of several due to be auctioned at the New York International Numismatic Convention between December 31 and January 9. Kevin Foley, the convention’s chairman, said there was “a realistic chance” that its nine participating auction houses staging 16 sessions of sales would realise $100m.
The week’s star lot is a masterpiece of late 5th century Greek art, the so-called “dekadrachm of Akragas”. Produced in Sicily, the coin appears to celebrate the victory of Exainetos, a citizen of Akragas, who won the chariot race of Olympia in 412BC.
Struck in the 4th century BC, the coin depicts a satyr or wild man of the woods, wide-eyed and dishevelled; on the reverse is a griffin standing on an ear of grain – a symbol of the city’s wealth.
Only 12 such coins are known and this example has a starting bid of $2.5m.
Peace On Earth
Munk Art
Via YouTube, Leading Tours of the City’s Art Scene
Todd Heisler/The New York Times
By JED LIPINSKI
WHEN Loren Munk began furtively filming New York City gallery and museum openings in 2006 — “working undercover,” as he put it — he was regularly kicked out by security guards and threatened with legal action for copyright infringement.
Since then, however, Mr. Munk’s camera has become a welcome guest, and using the alias James Kalm, he has uploaded more than 900 videos to his YouTube channels, the James Kalm Report and James Kalm Rough Cut, which have been viewed nearly two million times in total.
Curators searching for free promotion now invite him to document their shows. Fans of the project range from New York art world insiders to members of the Papulankutja aboriginal community in the desert of Western Australia.
They are 500 miles from the nearest small town, Anthony Spry, a former art teacher in Papulankutja who introduced his students to the Kalm Report, said in an e-mail from Australia.
“But the videos made them feel as if they were at the center of the New York art scene,” he said.
Hitchens: The Last Great Lover of Sonnets Gone
In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011
by Juli Weiner
Christopher Hitchens—the incomparable critic, masterful rhetorician, fiery wit, and fearless bon vivant—died today at the age of 62. Hitchens was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the spring of 2010, just after the publication of his memoir, Hitch-22, and began chemotherapy soon after. His matchless prose has appeared in Vanity Fair since 1992, when he was named contributing editor.
I Want To Shred Everybody In The World
How To Weigh The Weighing Machine
Best Worst Video of the Year: Cock Metal Larp Edition
No More Puckers For Oscar
Oscar Wilde’s tombstone now clean of lipstick kisses
Actor Rupert Everett and Oscar Wilde’s grandson have unveiled a makeover of the writer’s gravesite on the 111th anniversary of his death.
The tomb had become such a well-loved pilgrimage site — and had been so well-kissed — that it needed renovation. A glass screen now separates visitors from the stone itself.
Grandson Merlin Holland said his grandfather “would be incredibly touched by all the attention. After all he was sent out of England in 1897 a bankrupt, a homosexual and a convict … and the French took him to their hearts.”
Dubstep Korn
Wait, Now Korn Invented Dubstep?! Here Are Five Other Nu-Metal Groups Who Could Also Make Dubstep Comebacks
By Lina Lecaro
It’s been a controversial week on the dubstep front. First, there’s a libertarian dubstep guy, and then we had to deal with a spin-off called “fratstep.”
Now Korn is saying they invented dub step?!
Kind of. “We were dubstep before there was dubstep,” the nu-metal act’s frontman told Billboard recently. “Tempos at 140 with half-time drums, huge bassed-out riffs. We used to bring out 120 subwoofers and line them across the whole front of the stage, 60 subs per side. We were all about the bass.”
Korn perform tonight at Hollywood Palladium, and have a new album out today, The Path of Totality, which features folks like Grammy nominee and dubstep hero Skrillex. (Or, is he fratstep? Now we’re just getting confused.)
As to Davis’ claim that Korn’s the forefather of dubstep, we suppose that depends on if you believe the essence of dubstep is bass and rapid-fire, thrashing repetition. By that logic, there’s a case to be made for other nu-metal acts from the late ’90s too.
Revenge Of The Zines
Music Zines Are Back! It’s A Throwback Media Revival
Not only are cassettes reemerging from the underground (as I’ve discussed here and here), butzines are also making their presence felt beyond local shops. One edited music zine in an edition of 500 recently made a mainstream media appearance, as growing interest in low tech and high touch media reminds us that there are alternatives to mainstream digital culture.
“David Shapiro”, a pseudonym for the blogger-in-chief at Pitchfork Reviews Reviews, recently released “The World’s First Perfect Zine” at the rather exorbitant price of $12. I think it’s a music zine since the content creators are musicians and writers who often write about music,though David doesn’t make that clear. However, he is well known for blogging about music reviews.
His blog Pitchfork Reviews Reviews, where he reviews Pitchfork reviews (great concept), was included in a NY Times piece about Pitchfork last year. A recent release party for The World’s First Perfect Zine got coverage in both Fast Company and a mention in another NY Times piece about zines’ “resurgence among the web-savvy.”
Attack Of The Nude Brute On Steroids And Other Drugs
Calif. couple hospitalized after attack by 300-pound naked bodybuilder
Nude brute was on steroids, other drugs, police say
Damir Spanic/Getty Images
Police in Colton, Calif., said a naked 300-pound bodybuilder (not pictured) attacked a young couple outside their home on Saturday night.
A California couple is recovering after they were savagely beaten by a 300-pound naked bodybuilder in a bizarre encounter outside their home, police said.
Ruben Arzu, 22, was waiting on the unidentified couple’s front porch when they returned to their home in Colton, Calif., at around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, The San Bernardino Sun reported.
When the 34-year-old woman fled inside to call police, the nude brute attacked her husband, 35, “causing major head trauma and injuries,” police told the newspaper.
When the man’s wife tried to stop the beating, Arzu went after her, tossing her around like a rag doll and splitting open her head, police said.
Cops said it took four officers and multiple jolts from a Taser gun to finally take the muscle-bound thug down.
Aronofsky does Loutallica
The Very Bad Art Thief from Hoboken
Convicted Picasso thief Mark Lugo, accused of stealing Leger painting from Carlyle & Chambers hotels, faces court appearance
A wine steward with a taste for fine art faces arraignment in Manhattan Friday on charges he snatched valuable paintings from two midtown hotels.
Among the stolen works found on the walls of Mark Lugo’s Hoboken, N.J., apartment was a $350,000 Fernand Leger painting from the lobby of the Carlyle Hotel, authorities said.
Lugo, 31, who served time in California for stealing a Picasso sketch from a San Francisco gallery in July, faces grand larceny charges in New York in the Carlyle case and for allegedly making off with five artworks from the Chambers Hotel.
“They don’t think he intended to sell them. He wanted to display them,” a source close to the case said of Lugo, who has worked as a restaurant wine steward in Manhattan.
Squeegeeman Gerhard Richter @ Work
The Nightworld – “A new chapter being added to the James Frey saga”
James Frey looks to link novels with videogames
Book-packaging company Full Fathom Five, owned by the author of bestselling pseudo-memoir A Million Little Pieces, is looking to release books and video games in tandem, starting with young adult novel The Nightworld.
A new chapter is being added to the James Frey saga.
Though he is best known as the author of the bestselling pseudo-memoir A Million Little Pieces—and for the on-air tongue-lashing he received from Oprah Winfrey over its fabrications—Mr. Frey has spent the past three years becoming a “transmedia” entrepreneur.
That career move takes a new turn this week. In what Mr. Frey describes as a first for a publishing venture, his SoHo-based book-packaging company Full Fathom Five has produced a young adult novel, The Nightworld, in tandem with a videogame from Glu Mobile, based in San Francisco.
The e-book edition was released by HarperCollins last week, and The Nightworld social mobile game will be available Thursday as an application for iPad and iPhone. The works have come out of a partnership that Glu Mobile and Full Fathom Five formed last spring.
Mr. Frey describes the novel, written by Jack Blaine, as the “origin story” for a game about a world plunged into permanent darkness. But the more original part of the project may have to do with how the book and the game have been designed to promote each other.
Frosty The Thugman
On Santa’s naughty list! Frosty the Snowman arrested for ‘brawling with police’ during Christmas parade
Who says ‘Frosty the Snowman’ has to be jolly?
A man in a ‘Frosty the Snowman’ costume was arrested Saturday during the annual Christmas parade in Chestertown, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
He’s accused of scuffling with police and kicking at a police dog.
Sgt. John A. Dolgos tells The Star Democrat of Easton that 52-year-old Kevin Michael Walsh became agitated when a dog-handling officer tried to escort him away from the crowd.
Walsh told The Associated Press that he has dressed as Frosty in the parade for at least 10 years.
He says he did nothing wrong and was wrongfully arrested.