The Compromise Position Is To Split The Difference And Let The Queen Wear Crotchless Panties
Miss Universe Hopeful Told to Wear Panties
Miss Colombia has been making appearances without unmentionables
by Greg Wilson
Miss Universe officials have a message for Catalina Robayo, Colombia’s entry into Monday’s contest: Don’t forget to wear underwear.
Robayo, one of 89 beauties from around the world competing to win the Donald Trump-owned contest, has been reprimanded for making appearance in tiny skirts – with no panties.
“Colombia had to be spoken to and told she needed to wear underpants as what she was doing was totally inappropriate,” a source told Fox News. “People have been pretty upset by it; there have been photos and media appearances where she has completely had her crotch out.”
The contest, being held in Sao paulo, Brazil, might benefit from controversy, but going commando goes too far.
Inventor Of The E-book, Michael Stern Hart, Gone
Obituary Note: Michael Stern Hart
Michael Stern Hart, founder and head of Project Gutenberg and considered by many to have invented the e-book, died on Tuesday. He was 64.
According to Dr. Gregory B. Newby, Hart told this story of how he had the idea for e-books. “He had been granted access to significant computing power at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On July 4, 1971, after being inspired by a free printed copy of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he decided to type the text into a computer, and to transmit it to other users on the computer network.” E voila!
Newby added: “Hart was an ardent technologist and futurist. A lifetime tinkerer, he acquired hands-on expertise with the technologies of the day: radio, hi-fi stereo, video equipment, and of course computers. He constantly looked into the future, to anticipate technological advances. One of his favorite speculations was that someday, everyone would be able to have their own copy of the Project Gutenberg collection or whatever subset desired. This vision came true, thanks to the advent of large inexpensive computer disk drives, and to the ubiquity of portable mobile devices, such as cell phones.”
Too Much Twilight
Female ‘vampire’ busted for trying to eat elderly man
Thursday, September 8th, 2011 — 3:53 pm
Tags: female vampire, gun st, shell gas station
An elderly Florida man needed stitches Wednesday after a 22-year-old woman announced she was a vampire and began biting his face and neck.
Milton Ellis, 69, said that he had fallen asleep in his electric wheelchair on the porch of a vacant Hooters in St. Petersburg. He awoke to find Josephine Smith on top of him.
“I’m a vampire, I am going to eat you,” Smith told Ellis, according to an affidavit obtained by The Smoking Gun.
St. Petersburg police said that Smith had bitten chunks off of Ellis’ face and part of his lip.
Ellis called police after escaping to a nearby Shell gas station where he had first met Smith earlier in the evening. When police finally located Smith — covered in blood — at the Hooters, she could not recall the location of her pants or why her panties were around her ankles. Ellis maintains that she was fully clothed when he left her.
Carnal Knowledge by Malerie Mauder
Carnal Knowledge by Malerie Marder
‘Untitled’, 2005, by Malerie Marder
Simplicity is often regarded as the ultimate sophistication, and by this definition alone Malerie Marder‘s beautiful compositions are unbelievably compelling. Often set within stark, anonymous motel rooms, her photographic compositions feature her similarly bare sitters. Accessorised only with impassive expressions, they allow the viewer to play voyeur, but with a distinct feeling of having pre-arranged permission.
Carnal Knowledge is her first monograph, a milestone in the career of any artist, and it has been gorgeously produced by Violette Editions with a preface by Gregory Crewdson, texts by Charlotte Cotton and novelist James Ellroy, and short stories inspired by Marder’s works by A. M. Homes, James Frey and Bruce Wagner. There is also a written and photographic correspondence between Marder and Philip-Lorca diCorcia.
REVIEW: The Final Testament Of The Holy Bible
Long Island Books: The Rising
By Robert Stuart
In a Bible class I taught, a woman who was annoyed with an image of a vengeful God said, “Well, why don’t we just write a new Bible?” James Frey has written, not a new Bible, but a testament to the end times with the appearance of the Messiah, a man born of Orthodox Jewish parents in Brooklyn. His name is variously Ben Zion Avrohom, Ben Jones, or Ben. ___ “The Final Testament of the Holy Bible” James Frey Gagosian Gallery, $50 ___ The story is in the present time, written from the perspectives and in the voices of men and women who in the immediate past have known Ben. It is a compelling story and well written, holding plot, characters, and religious theme together. I hasten to add that the characters would not consider their insight, newly gained after contact with Ben, to be religious, conventionally considered. Quite the opposite, the point of view is decidedly against religion, and indeed against government. It is not, however, anarchist. [ click to continue reading at The East Hampton Star ]
The Full Fathom Five Crew
Polaroid For Charity
Viggo Mortensen Takes Part In Charity Polaroid Auction
Polaroid is honoring its founder Dr. Edwin Land’s passion for the arts with the launch of the Made in Polaroid exhibit.
An art show featuring more than 60 pieces created by a mix of artists, designers, photographers, actors and musicians who are united in their passion for creativity, all pieces will be auctioned with proceeds benefiting Free Arts NYC, a non-profit that provides arts and mentoring programs to under-served children. Participating artists include fashion photographers Patrick Demarchelier and Steven Klein, designers Cynthia Rowley and Phillip Lim and actors James Franco and Viggo Mortensen, among many others.
“It’s very interesting to me that at this moment in time the new Polaroid G10 printer arrives and re-objectifies the photograph, literally making an object, a paper photograph,” said participating photographer Matthew Rolston. “We seem to be headed toward a paperless world of visual communication and yet here we have an exciting new product that re-invigorates the thought of trading imagery – actual photographs that we hold in our hands – with each other.”
Also taking part are Brett Ratner, James Frey, Tyra Banks and many more.
The exhibit explores the infinite number of ways technology can enable creative expression. Featuring pieces that range from single mounted images to multi-print mosaics, each artist taps a different approach to tell a story with photos. All works were created exclusively using the Polaroid GL10 Instant Mobile Printer, the first product from Lady Gaga’s Grey Label line.
Sea Bass In Pesto Fish Broth
THE POWER OF SIX Number One
“What a weird, hysterically funny man.”
Roald Dahl’s Weird And Hilarious Letter To A Class Of Children
CULTURE BUZZ: When a group of students sent a letter to Roald Dahl asking him questions about his short story collection “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More,” this was the author’s response. What a weird, hysterically funny man.
A Million Little Flipbacks
Going Forward with the Flipbacks
August 30, 2011
Hodder & Stoughton, a UK publisher, recently introduced a paperback book format that’s the size of an iPhone. Called Flipbacks, the books are one-third the size of traditional books.
They’re lightweight, feel nice in the palm of your hand and fit conveniently in a back pocket or purse. Some booksellers are already thinking of them as a great alternative to the e-reader … Flipbacks are always fully charged.
Only a few titles have been published in the format so far: The Other Hand by Chris Cleave; The Adventures of English by Melvyn Bragg; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré; Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde; A Million Little Pieces by James Frey; Misery by Stephen King; Liar’s Poker by Michael Lewis; Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell; One Day by David Nicholls; My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult; Piece of My Heart by Peter Robinson and Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier.
Flipbacks have been launched in Spain, France and Australia to date with deals pending in Germany and Scandinavia.
Boardin’ Bulldog
from M-C the Greek
Madonna And Terry Richardson’s SEX Still Hot
Madonna’s ‘Sex’ Book Still The Most Sought-After Out-Of-Print Title
Long before Lady Gaga crafted her book of 350 black-and-white photos with Terry Richardson, Madonna unleashed her scandalous watercooler tome Sex. And even though it was released nearly 19 years ago (and coincided with Madge’s aptly-titled 1992 albumErotica), it turns out the Material Girl’s naughty coffee table offering has toppedBookfinder.com’s annual fall list of the 100 most sought-after out-of-print titles in the United States.
“The list differs from year to year as trends change and books get republished,” Bookfinder.com notes in the ninth annual installment of its Fall Report. The site also refers toSex as “Madonna’s nearly perennial number one” on the list.
Yo, boys – let’s stop throwing rocks, okay.
San Diego boy throwing rocks hit by crossbow
SAN DIEGO (AP) — San Diego police say a 16-year-old boy throwing rocks at a sport utility vehicle was struck by a crossbow arrow fired by a passenger.
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Police say the shirtless boy and a friend were throwing rocks at a black Toyota RAV4 in the Linda Vista neighborhood Monday afternoon when a passenger fired a crossbow out the window.
The boy was shot in the right side and was taken to a hospital. The San Diego Union-Tribune says his injuries are not life-threatening.
The Princess said, “No!!!”
Once upon a time, a Prince asked a beautiful Princess, “Will you marry me?”
The Princess said, “No!!!”
And the Prince lived happily ever after and rode motorcycles and dated skinny long-legged full-breasted women and hunted and fished and raced cars and went to naked bars and dated ladies half his age and drank whiskey, beer and Captain Morgan and never heard bitching and never paid child support or alimony and banged cheerleaders and kept his house and guns and ate Spam and potato chips and beans and blew enormous farts and never got cheated on while he was at work and all his friends and family thought he was frickin’ cool as hell and he had tons of money in the bank and left the toilet seat up.
The end.
The Inside Of The Rolling Stone
Petra Nemcova, James Frey Remake Iconic Maxell’s Commercial
Cassette culture is revived and well: all it needed was a supermodel, controversial author and ironically, an iPhone app to breathe new life into it. A new ad from Booktrack features Petra Nemcova and James Frey in an uncomfortably provocative master and servant scenario while paying sly homage to Maxell’s classic “Higher Fidelity” commercial, which blew people away in 1983. British fans may recall the U.K.-only version that featured Bauhaus’s Peter Murphy; younger fans may be more familiar with the late Ryan Dunn’s parody of the clip. In any case, Maxell’s ad is a nugget of Eighties ephemera that manages to keeps on giving.
Booktrack’s take on the iconic ad skips the analog nostalgia, but amps up the style and sound quotients to make its selling point – enhancing your e-book experience with synchronized soundtracks – a little sexier. Nemcova poses as Frey’s coquettish (Marchesa-clad) maid, donning erotic accessories from Kiki de Montparnasse and Christian Louboutin…
Today’s Levitation
SIX On The Beach
Summer Beach Read: The Power of Six
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 at 1:12 PM | posted by Laura Brounstein
The Power of Six, “by” Pittacus Lore, is the latest book from James Frey’s Full Fathom Five and, like its predecessor, I Am Number Four, it is a furiously fun foray into the fight facing the teenage survivors of the planet Lorien.
Not only do these teens have to struggle against alien predators, the Mogadorians, but they also need to learn how to handle their adolescent inclinations — both earthly (I like two girls!) and not (can I harness my powers, my Legacies, effectively enough to save the planet?).
While John Smith, the hero of I Am Number Four is a central character of this book as well, he is now joined by two other Loriens, Numbers Six and Seven. They are two very different girls, Six is a hardened battle veteran and Seven is just coming into her Legacies, but their characters develop richly as the book progresses, giving what could otherwise be just another YA genre romp some heart and heft.
Today I Found Out 10 Interesting Word & Phrase Facts
WSJ: ‘I’m Done Writing Books,’ Says Frey
‘I’m Done Writing Books,’ Says Frey
By MIKE VILENSKY
Booktrack, a new start-up that adds soundtracks to e-books, launched in style Wednesday night at Yotel in Midtown. The company, backed by Facebook co-founder Peter Thiel, matches “synchronized music, sound effects, and ambient sound” to text, according to its press release. The project has author James Frey, an early Booktrack supporter, so excited that he’s retiring from writing books altogether.
“I’m done writing books,” he told a reporter at the reception. “The only books I’ve written are the ones with my names on them, and I’m never writing another book. I have other things to do in life. I’m not bored with it—I’m still going to do television shows and movies and videogames. I just like having other people write books for me, you know?”
Presumably, those “other people” are employees at Full Fathom Five, Mr. Frey’s book company, which has recently been characterized by New York magazine, Gawker, and other media outlets as “a factory” and a “sweatshop.”
“I don’t care what people say,” he said. “I don’t think it’s factory-like. I think we just systematized the production of books, and it’s going well. I don’t think that characterization is accurate at all, but it makes me laugh.”
Petra Nemcova, A Pair of Louboutin’s and James Frey
THE POWER OF SIX: The First Book With A Soundtrack
Bells and Whistles for a Few E-Books
By JULIE BOSMAN
In the film versions of “Pride and Prejudice” the music jumps and swells at all the right moments, heightening the tension and romance of that classic Jane Austen novel.
Will it do the same in the e-book edition?
Booktrack, a start-up in New York, is planning to release e-books with soundtracks that play throughout the books, an experimental technology that its founders hope will change the way many novels are read.
Its first book featuring a soundtrack is “The Power of Six,” a young-adult novel published by HarperCollins, soon to be followed by “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “Jane Eyre,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Three Musketeers.”
In September and October, Booktrack will release editions of the short stories “In the South,” by Salman Rushdie, and “Solace,” by Jay McInerney.
Tara Weikum, an editorial director for HarperCollins Children’s Books, said she believed “The Power of Six” could work with a soundtrack because the book is “cinematic in scope.”
“It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole!!”
Get Some SIX Today: Interview with Pittacus Lore
‘The Power Of Six’ Debuts Today: Author, Lorien Elder Pittacus Lore Speaks
Posted 8/23/11 4:39 pm ET by Amy Wilkinson in Page Turners
“They tried to catch Number Four in Ohio…and failed. I am Number Seven. And I’m ready to fight.”
Thus concludes the synopsis for Pittacus Lore’s second “Lorien Legacies” novel, “The Power of Six,” which hits bookstore shelves today. The novel picks up where the preceding “I Am Number Four” left off, with the titular Number Four (John), Number Six and Sam on the run after a deadly confrontation with the enemy Mogadorians.
John is once again a central focus in this second effort from co-authors James Frey and Jobie Hughes (who use the pen name Pittacus Lore), but the novel also introduces us to Number Seven, a young woman named Marina living in Spain, whose protectors may not have her best interests at heart.
In anticipation of the novel’s release, we were granted an audience (via email, that is) with author/Lorien elder Pittacus Lore himself, who (very succinctly) answered a few of our burning questions. Read our entire interview after the jump!
Hollywood Crush: Your latest is titled “The Power of Six” but revolves quite a bit around Number Seven. How did you decide on the title, and were you worried there would be any confusion that the book was about Six?
Pittacus Lore: The title “The Power of Six” refers to the remaining six Lorien who are on Earth, and their collective power, but also Number Six whose power is on full display near the end of the book.
Will Number Four continue to be a narrator in each of the series’ books?
For as long as Number Four is alive, he will be a major part of the books.
Number Five is glaringly absent. Can you tell us anything about what he/she is up to?
I write about the events as they happen. It is not important to find the other Loriens in the order of their numbers, just to find them at all. We know now where Number Five is.
Your name appears in this second novel.
I am Pittacus Lore, the ruling Lorien elder, the planet’s leader and military ruler. It’s natural that at some point I would appear in the books being written about our war with the Mogadorians.
Can you give us any update on plans for the film adaptation of “The Power of Six”?
Mr. Michael Bay would be the best person to speak to about it. I am sworn to a vow of silence.
Okay then…
Just GAGOSIAN
The Business Formerly Known As Gagosian Gallery
“Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost,” the writer Henry James once advised. It has not been lost on us here at The Observer, where we carefully scrutinize the tiniest changes in branding, that what was formerly known as Gagosian Gallery is now known simply as Gagosian.
Already on the back cover of James Frey’s new novel The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, published in April by Gagosian, the publisher was listed on the back as Gagosian, rather than as Gagosian Gallery.
And now, the ultimate indicator of changes in an art business’s presentation, the September issue of Artforum magazine, has landed on our desks…
“Gott’s Büch” by James Frey
A Scandal-prone Crowd
In East Hampton, the Art Elite Gather
Emily Berl for The New York Times
Models in Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry. More Photos »
By BOB MORRIS
Published: August 17, 2011
GUILD HALL, the 80-year-old cultural pillar of East Hampton, usually stands above the fray in a town with its share of tabloid fodder. But last Friday night, during its summer gala, whiffs of scandal were in the air and on the gallery walls.
Well, what else to expect at an exhibition by Richard Prince, the controversial appropriation artist? His show, “Covering Pollock,” is full of photo collages from the life of Jackson Pollock, the local bad-boy artist who died in a car crash in the area.
The evening began with a private viewing at Guild Hall, where high-minded guests including Barbara Kruger, Robert A. M. Stern and Lisa Phillips looked at low-minded images of naked women, punks and the artist’s wrecked car.
“This show takes him off the art pedestal and brings you right back to the audaciousness of his time,” Larry Gagosian, who represents Mr. Prince, said of Pollock.
When it was time for cocktails and dinner ($1,200 a plate), guests — some in very high heels — teetered out onto Main Street, and with traffic whooshing by, walked to the historic Gardiner estate, whose “lord of the manor,” Robert, died in 2004 after a family feud over the rights to Gardiners Island. “I wonder if the ghost of Mr. Gardiner is around,” a guest said.
Possibly, judging by the scandal-prone crowd. Alec Baldwin (remember that nasty divorce from Kim Basinger?) was the master of ceremonies. James Frey, the publishing provocateur once in the news for his not-so-true memoir, was regaling his tablemates. “I don’t write anymore,” he said of the young scribes he uses to create books for him. “I let others do it.”
Music was provided by Alexandra Richards, daughter of Keith of the Rolling Stones, and who is now a D.J. and model. She posed last summer for French Playboy. Her music was loose and old school, her dress provocatively tight.
Message From Pittacus Lore
I don’t know about you, but I always root for the bull anyway.
Spain’s Killer Bull Claims Third Victim
Bull is huge attraction at festivals, earning $13,000 per appearance
By Greg Wilson
There’s a killer on the loose in Spain, and people love him.
Raton, a 1,100-pound bull whose owners earn big money to bring him to bull runs, burnished his reputation this weekend by killing his third victim in 10 years. The 29-year-old man was gored at a festival in Eastern Spain and died later at a hospital.
The bull, whose name translates to Mouse, earns $13,000 for his owners for each appearance and has his own Facebook page.
Gagosian Launches iPad App
Gagosian gallery launches App for iPad
by Art Shades Blog
Gagosian Gallery announces the launch of an application for the iPad, now available as a free download from the iTunes store. The app will be updated four times per year, providing content that features recent, current, and future Gagosian artists, exhibitions, and projects. The artists presented in edition #1 include Richard Avedon, Cecily Brown, John Currin, Vera Lutter, Kazimir Malevich, Elizabeth Peyton, Pablo Picasso, Robert Rauschenberg, Richard Prince, and Rudolf Stingel.
The app offers unprecedented access and in-depth knowledge of Gagosian Gallery’s artists and exhibitions, presented through visually stunning, richly informative and innovative features, and both moving and still imagery. Art lovers who have yet to see the current exhibition of Picasso’s portraits of his lover Marie-Thérèse Walter (Picasso and Marie-Thérèse: L’amour fou, April 14–July 15, 2011, New York), can explore a touch-sensitive “sketch” view revealing twenty states of Picasso’s etching of his muse. In addition they can watch video excerpts of the renowned art historian John Richardson, a Gagosian curator, discussing the exhibition.
Admirers of John Currin’s opulent portraiture will revel in the app’s gigapixel digital exposé of a recent painting, as well as a 2010 lecture by the artist. Other projects include an interview with writer James Frey about his 2011 novel, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, published by Gagosian Gallery. The app also offers excerpts from scholar Aleksandra Shatskikh’s catalogue essay for the historic exhibition Malevich and the American Legacy(March 3–April 30, 2011, New York).
Viewers can relive a key moment in art history by watching archival footage of Rauschenberg’s 1966 performance,
Open Score; or follow a tour by curator Francesco Bonami of Rudolf Stingel (March 4–April 16, 2011, New York).