Heroin Cat
Tests will confirm whether cat died from heroin overdose; Woman arrested
BOULDER, Colo. – A Boulder woman has been arrested for allegedly killing a cat by blowing heroin smoke into its face, according to Boulder Police.
21-year-old Danielle Blankenship was arrested Tuesday around 11:30 a.m. on charges of cruelty to animals, third degree assault, and domestic violence. She is being held in the Boulder County Jail on $1,500 bond.
Officers say the woman admitted hitting her boyfriend with her fist because he wouldn’t let her use his phone to call for a ride. An officer noticed the cat lying on the steps to the downstairs area of the home while the pair was being interviewed.
“The cat appeared to be unresponsive, and the cat did not move when the officer touched it,” wrote Officer Gregory Perry in a statement. “It could not seem to get up.”
Blankenship’s boyfriend claims she was smoking heroin and blew it in the cat’s face, an allegation the woman denies.
Police asked if the cat, named Muffin, had been hit or kicked accidently, to which Blankenship told officers that she would never hurt the caT.
Thrift Threads Poetry Surprise
Twombly Gone
Celebrated American painter Cy Twombly loses cancer battle, dies at 83
Cy Twombly’s 1961 painting ‘Ferragostso 1.’ (Tate via Bloomberg News)
ROME – Celebrated American painter Cy Twombly, whose large-scale paintings featuring scribbles, graffiti and references to ancient empires fetched millions at auction, died Tuesday. He was 83.
Twombly, who had cancer, died in Rome, said Eric Mezil, director of the Lambert Collection in Avignon, France, where the artist opened a show in June. Twombly had lived in Italy since 1957.
“A great American painter who deeply loved old Europe has just left us,” French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said in a statement. “His work was deeply marked by his passion for Greek and Roman antiquity, and its mythology, which for him was a source of bottomless inspiration.”
Twombly was known for his abstract works combining painting and drawing techniques, repetitive lines, scribbles and the use of words and graffiti. He is often linked to the legendary American artists Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, whom he met as a student in New York in the early 1950s.
Balls + Heart = Stephen Reedy
The Sausage-Haters
The Hot Dog Files: 12 Tales From America’s Era of Sausage-Hating
Before FDR helped the hot dog become a Fourth of July favorite, it was an outcast associated with squalor, crime, and moonshine
On the evening of October 20, 1909, 600 millionaires—”pork princes,” The St. Louis Post-Dispatch called them—gathered at Chicago’s La Salle Hotel for the annual banquet of the American Meat Packers’ Association. “Bratwurst, bockwurst, wienerwurst,” they chanted, shouting a kind of pump-up song. “Leberwurst, blutwurst, bologna, hot dog.”
“Hot dog” came last. According to the Post-Dispatch, J. Ogden Armour, one of America’s biggest meat tycoons, proceeded to “deliver a defense of the sausage family, showing he believed what he said by eating (actual count) seven ‘hot dogs,’ the most abused member of the family.”
Why should the hot dog—a food so entrenched in American culture that more than 150 million of them will be consumed this Independence Day, according to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council—have needed such defending, and to a roomful of the men who should have been its most loyal allies? One compelling answer: Until the 1930s, when our hot-dog-lover-in-chief, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, gave hot dogs a much-needed boost, many Americans hated them.
Newspaper articles from the early 1900s often make hot dogs, despite their widespread consumption at the time, seem like the lowest of the low. These were not plump Ball Park Franks you might squirt with primary-colored condiments and give to your five-year-old. They were gritty symbols of booze, drug dealers, and adulterated food. “SECRET OF HOT DOG IS EXPOSED,” said one 1921 Los Angeles Times story about a novel alcohol-smuggling technique, adding, “Innocent-Looking Sandwich Found to Contain Moonshine.” The connection between hot dogs and liquor was particularly strong. As a 1929 New York Times article put it, “For every frankfurter sold by a delicatessen in the ante-Volstead days, three had been speared and consumed by patrons of the saloon.” Even the tendency of reporters to bracket the term with quotation marks—”hot dogs”—gave the whole topic an air of shadiness and skepticism.
20 Questions For Tao Lin
My New York: 20 Questions For ‘Shoplifting From American Apparel’, ‘RICHARD YATES’ Author Tao Lin
The Huffington Post Christopher Mathias
Age: 27
Current Gig: I honestly don’t know, maybe “author.” [Follow Tao on twitter here, and buy his latest book RICHARD YATES here].
Neighborhood: Off the Graham L train stop, I think it’s technically Williamsburg.
Years In New York: 10, I think.
Who is your favorite New Yorker, living or dead? I like Woody Allen. I’m not thinking of anyone else when I think “New Yorker.” I think I view almost everyone as “from the internet” now.
Your perfect New York date? Eating dinner at Sel De Mer after ingesting Xanax then walking a little before going to my apartment to do things on the internet, shower, drink green juice, have sex, sleep.
What’s your drink? I like unpasteurized coconut water.
Favorite bookstore? St. Mark’s Bookshop maybe.
The best reading or lecture you’ve attended in New York? The most memorable was maybe Matthew Rohrer, James Frey, and [someone else] in something like 2006 at an NYU reading. I first learned of Matthew Rohrer then. I liked James Frey’s reading. He left right after reading to, I think, go home to his baby or small child.
Hem May Be Paranoid, But No Android
Hemingway, Hounded by the Feds
By A. E. HOTCHNER
EARLY one morning, 50 years ago today, while his wife, Mary, slept upstairs, Ernest Hemingway went into the vestibule of his Ketchum, Idaho, house, selected his favorite shotgun from the rack, inserted shells into its chambers and ended his life.
There were many differing explanations at the time: that he had terminal cancer or money problems, that it was an accident, that he’d quarreled with Mary. None were true. As his friends knew, he’d been suffering from depression and paranoia for the last year of his life.
Ernest and I were friends for 14 years. I dramatized many of his stories and novels for television specials and film, and we shared adventures in France, Italy, Cuba and Spain, where, as a pretend matador with Ernest as my manager, I participated in a Ciudad Real bullfight. Ernest’s zest for life was infectious.
In 1959 Ernest had a contract with Life magazine to write about Spain’s reigning matadors, the brothers-in-law Antonio Ordóñez and Luis Miguel Dominguín. He cabled me, urging me to join him for the tour. It was a glorious summer, and we celebrated Ernest’s 60th birthday with a party that lasted two days.
But I remember it now as the last of the good times.
The Only Pair of Matching Singing Bird Pistols, Attributed to Frères Rochat
Ben Zion To The Big Screen
James Frey’s Bronx Jesus Will Ascend to Silver Screen
Christine Vachon’s Killer Films to Produce, Frey to Adapt
By Emily Witt
Christine Vachon’s Killer Films will produce a film adaptation of James Frey’s The Final Testament of the Holy Bible. In the book, which was released in April, Jesus Christ returns in the form of a bisexual recovering alcoholic named Ben who lives in the Bronx.
In an interview with The Observer, Mr. Frey said that he gave Ms. Vachon a copy of the book six months before it was released, but that they had their first meeting on the project two weeks ago. He will adapt the screenplay himself but declined to suggest who he hopes will direct or star in the movie. When asked to give us an idea of what movies he had in mind, however, he listed a round-up notable for what he calls their “heavy, heavy emotional impact” but which some might refer to as a certain gross-out quality: Lars Von Triers’s Breaking the Waves, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, Larry Clark’s Kids (also produced by Ms. Vachon). He also mentioned Todd Haynes’s Velvet Goldmine (Haynes is a longtime Killer Films collaborator) and Derek Cienfrance’s Blue Valentine.
“I like a lot of emotionally impactful smaller films,” said Mr. Frey.
“But bigger in their intent and ambition,” Ms. Vachon hastened to add.
“It’s not about making 100 million dollars, it’s about making the best thing,” said Mr. Frey.
Inventor of the Weed Eater Gone
Houston man who invented Weed Eater dies at 85
HOUSTON (AP) — George C. Ballas Sr., a Houston entrepreneur best known for inventing the Weed Eater, has died. He was 85.
Ballas’ son, Corky Ballas, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his father died of natural causes on Saturday.
“He changed the way we cut grass,” Corky Ballas said.
Ballas got the idea for the Weed Eater, a device also commonly known as a weed whacker, while sitting in a car wash. He wondered whether the idea of spinning bristles, like the ones cleaning his car, could be applied to trimming grass and weeds in areas a lawnmower couldn’t reach.
He experimented with fishing wire that poked through holes in a tin can attached to the rotary of a lawn edger, and found that the spinning wires easily sliced through grass, The Houston Chronicle reported.
But George Ballas, who was born in Ruston, La., was also a dance studio owner and dance was an important part of his family’s life.
After moving to Houston in the late 1950s, he built and operated the Dance City USA Studio. With 120 instructors and 43,000 square feet of space, it was heralded as the largest dance studio in the world. He sold it in 1964.
Ballas’ wife, Maria Louisa Ballas, was a noted flamenco dancer who studied with famed Spanish dancer Carmen Amaya and appeared in several films.
Corky Ballas became a champion ballroom dancer, and his son, Mark Ballas, is a professional dancer. Both of them have appeared on “Dancing With the Stars.”
“Sugar Chile” Robinson
THE POWER OF SIX: Chapter Two
The Final Testament on Plum TV
Drunk Chick Showers Sheriffs With Breast Milk
Woman Arrested After Allegedly Spraying Deputies With Breast Milk
Monday, June 27, 2011 5:48 AM
DELAWARE, Ohio — A woman faces several charges after she allegedly sprayed deputies with breast milk as they tried to detain her over the weekend.
The incident occurred early Saturday morning near the Bridgewater Banquet & Conference Center on Sawmill Parkway.
According to the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called to the area after receiving calls about a domestic dispute. When they arrived, a man told them that he had been attending a wedding at the facility with his wife, who had gotten drunk and struck him several times before locking herself in a car.
Delaware County Sheriff Walter L. Davis III said deputies tried to talk with the woman, who was identified as Stephanie Robinette, 30, of Westerville, but she refused to cooperate.
“When deputies attempted to remove Robinette from the vehicle, she advised the deputies that she was a breast feeding mother and proceeded to remove her right breast from her dress and began spraying deputies and the vehicle with her breast milk,” Davis said.
Spanking Stewardesses
McDonald’s Recruiting Video Uses Green Day to Pit Teens Against Parents and Peers
BOOKHAMPTON WELCOMES AUTHOR JAMES FREY – Saturday, June 25
BOOKHAMPTON WELCOMES AUTHOR JAMES FREY
WHEN:
Sat, Jun 25, 2011
8:00 PM-9:00 PM
WHERE:
BookHampton
41 Main Street
East Hampton
DETAILS:
James Frey will read from and sign his new book, “The Final Testament of the Holy Bible.”
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Any bookseller bookhampton@bookhampton.com
631 324-4939
Columbo Gone
Columbo Star Peter Falk Dead at 83
NBCU Photo Bank via AP Images
Peter Falk, the legendary actor who graced both big screen and small over a 50-year career but will perhaps best be remembered for his Emmy-winning role as the shabby-dressed, wisecracking homicide detective on TV’s Columbo, has died. He was 83.
Falk’s family confirmed to CBS News the two-time Academy Award nominee passed away last night, though no cause of death has been announced.
As the cigar-chomping, seemingly slow-witted lieutenant Columbo, Falk was the epitome of cool as he went about solving some of TV’s most perplexing mysteries with the classic catchprase, “Just One More Thing.” Episodes aired regularly from 1971 to 1978 on NBC, before appearing sporadically as made-for-TV movies on both the Peacock net and ABC in subsequent years. The lastColumbo episode was broadcast in 2003 and the iconic part nabbed the thesp four Emmy Awards (the fifth came in 1962 for the Dick Powell TV drama The Price of Tomatoes).
Ed Templeton @ Half Gallery
JAMES FREY PREVIEWING ED TEMPLETON’S HALF GALLERY SHOW
Barcodes Gussied Up
Art in Aisle 5: Barcodes Enter Expressionist Period
By SARAH NASSAUER
![[BARCODE.jmp3]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/PJ-BB419A_BARCO_F_20110621195202.jpg)
Design Barcodes Inc. (man, skyline); Vanity Barcodes LLC (3)
Some proposed barcode designs, from left, depict a hand mixer, jelly beans, skyline, school bus and trousers.
Package design has become so artful, it has come to this: Even the barcode, the style runt of product labeling, is getting gussied up.
Beer, granola, juice and olives are sporting barcodes that integrate famous buildings, blades of wheat and bubbles into the ubiquitous black and white rectangle of lines and numbers. Consumer-goods companies hope these vanity barcodes will better connect with customers.
The trend is popular with smaller companies, and even one of the world’s largest food companies, Nestle SA, is trying out vanity barcodes on its smaller brands.
When Sixpoint Brewery planned to launch a line of canned beer this year, the Brooklyn, N.Y., company set out to fashion the perfect can design. It soon realized, “you need this big, ugly barcode so people can scan them,” says Shane Welch, president of Mad Scientists Brewing Partners LLC, which owns Sixpoint. “I thought, why can’t we do our own custom barcode?” Launched last month, the silver cans bear a barcode that integrates the Statue of Liberty and skyscrapers.
A handful of companies that specialize in making vanity barcodes have cropped up in recent years, though some companies create them in-house.
Religion, God and Death on Strombo
Salmon and Chipotle Burgers With Citrus Avocado Guacamole
Oprah and James Frey Prepare for Their Interview
Oprah and James Frey Prepare for Their Interview
Tag along on the morning of Oprah’s final sit-down with James Frey. Watch how they both prepare for their first on-camera conversation since the infamous 2006 interview. More from this show
It’s gettin’ real in the Whole Foods Parking lot….
Assassinate Yourself Online With the Suicide Machine
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Canucked In The Nuts With A Stun Grenade
Gagosian iPad App
Gagosian Gallery’s iPad App, Designed by Award-Winning Firm @radical.media, Launches Today Taking Users on an In-Depth Journey With Gagosian’s Artists and Exhibitions
NEW YORK, June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Gagosian Gallery announces the launch of an application for the iPad, available as a free download from the iTunes store, beginning today. 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.
Admirers of John Currin‘s opulent portraiture will revel in the app’s gigapixel digital expose 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).
Family Dog Abuses Toddler
m_f: Top 10 Literary Smack-downs
The Quick 10: 10 Literary Smack-Downs, Quips, and Squabblesby – June 14, 2011 – 10:21 PM
There’s an adage they give you when you receive your name badge at the door of Writer Land: “You only compete with yourself.” While most authors hold true to this (at least in public), there are those who make time to spend bashing their fellow wordslingers. Here are ten cringe-worthy examples.
1. Mark Twain vs. Ambrose Bierce
When they asked Samuel Clemens to read and review long-time friend Ambrose Bierce’s not-so-bestseller, Nuggets and Dust Panned Out in California by Dod Grile, publishers Chatto & Windus had no idea they’d get such a scathing report back. Twain calls Nuggets and Dust “the vilest book that exists in print” and ends with what might be the most simultaneously hilarious and hurtful review of all time:
“There is humor in Dod Grile, but for every laugh that is in his book there are five blushes, ten shudders and a vomit. The laugh is too expensive.”
2. James Frey vs. Dave Eggers
Before his tearful apology on Oprah for passing off as a memoir his best-selling tale of addiction and redemption, and even before the book had been released, James Frey took aim at Dave Eggers and his much-hailed A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Here’s what Frey said in an interview in New York Observer:
“The Eggers book pissed me off. Because a book that I thought was mediocre was being hailed as the best book written by the best writer of my generation. F**k that. And f**k him and f**k anybody who says that.”
3. Ernest Hemingway vs. Ford Madox Ford.
In a letter sent to Ezra Pound in 1925, Papa Hemingway compares contemporary Ford Madox Ford to a bull in a less-than-complimentary tirade:
“Bulls at least are not the greatest stylists in English – no bull has ever been a political exile. Bulls don’t run reviews. Bulls of 25 don’t marry old women of 55 and expect to be invited to dinner… Bulls do not borrow money… Bulls are edible after they have been killed.”
Isaac Asimov on Libraries
Quotation of the Day
Forty-Year-Old Wisdom About Libraries
“[A library] isn’t just a library. It is a space ship that will take you to the farthest reaches of the Universe, a time machine that will take you to the far past and the far future, a teacher that knows more than any human being, a friend that will amuse you and console you–and most of all, a gateway, to a better and happier and more useful life.”
–Isaac Asimov in a March 16, 1971, letter to children at the newly opened Troy, Mich., public library, as posted on lettersofnote.com.