Outstanding.
with thanks to T. Oliphant
Tagliatelle With Pancetta and Farm Egg Yolk
I AM NUMBER FOUR Book Trailer
“He was an outsider from Cleveland.” Steinbrenner Gone.
Steinbrenner Remembered as Despot and Hero
David Goldman for The New York Times
By JAMES BARRON and ALAN FEUER
He was an outsider from Cleveland who became one of those unforgettable New York characters: deep-pocketed and domineering, a victory-at-all-costs cutthroat, not shy about twisting arms — or the law. But he delivered: 11 American League pennants, 7 World Series championships. And as the years passed, it turned out that he even had something of a soft side, difficult as it was to see or believe.
And so, when George Steinbrenner died on Tuesday at age 80, he got a typical New York send-off: good riddance and God bless, accompanied by applause and anger.
“George and I had our differences, but who didn’t?” said Yogi Berra, the Hall of Fame Yankees catcher whom Mr. Steinbrenner fired as the team’s manager 16 games into the 1985 season — and who refused to return to Yankee Stadium until Mr. Steinbrenner apologized, which he finally did, 14 years later.
But that was not all Mr. Berra had to say on Tuesday: “He built the Yankees into champions, and that’s something nobody can ever deny.”
Police Called To The Set of I AM NUMBER FOUR
Garageball!
from The San Jose Mercury News
Dodgeball! Underground game is sweeping the catacombs of Los Gatos
It will be midnight soon, and the mortgage underwriters have all gone home, taking their hybrids and Lexus SUVs with them. From the mouth of the building’s subterranean parking garage, a tongue of light is accompanied by a fluorescent hum so loud that it drowns out the whirring of crickets.
The night’s first game of underground dodgeball is about to begin, and Kenny Cox is warming up like a pitcher in the bullpen. In addition to limbering up his arm, this drill has the added benefit of terrifying opponents, who stand and watch as he hurls rubber heat at a concrete wall 50 feet away. Each throw produces a sickening, explosive splat.
Dodgeball experienced a brief rec-league renaissance following the release of the 2004 comedy “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” whose lovable losers were instantly recognizable to anyone ever forced to play the game in gym class. But this isn’t that. Underground dodgeball is closer in spirit to “Fight Club,” the 1999 film starring Brad Pitt in which young men release aggression by beating each other senseless late at night.
A Day Two Pigs Would Die By The Order Of A Local Meat Sciences Professor Named Eric.
A day two pigs would die: ethical slaughter
There’s no pretty way to say this. I was present for the death of the pig pictured above.
It was a grim, sodden day on an upstate New York farm. A local meat sciences professor named Eric explained to the pig’s owners that the most humane method of slaughter was to shoot it at close range between the eyes with a .22 rifle – a stunning blow to knock its central nervous system offline – then slit the main artery so the blood loss would bring about swift, arguably less painful death. The blow would also supposedly reduce the stress on the animal, allowing for better meat quality.
The farmers, having researched the matter thoroughly and consulted with the Humane Animal Farm Care project, believed this to be true. Still, as they stood several yards from the slaughter, half sheltered in the doorway to their goat barn, they flinched at the stark crack of the rifle, and then they cried.
The Many Faces Of The Motorcycle Rider
HARD L.A. Cancelled
Citing security concerns, HARD L.A. canceled
July 12, 2010
In the wake of a teenager’s death at the Electric Daisy Carnival last month, the electronic-centric HARD L.A. concert at downtown’s Los Angeles State Historic Park has been canceled due to security concerns.
James Valdez, a state park ranger and the lead coordinator for events in the Los Angeles sector who was overseeing Hard L.A., confirmed that the July 17 date is no longer happening. Valdez said the Aug. 7 Hard event, also set for the park, was still planned as of this morning. “From what I hear, yes,” Valdez said when asked if the Aug. 7 was scheduled to go off.
Valdez said he received an e-mail from Gary Richards, the festival’s promoter, that stated the July 17 date was “postponed,” but he had no further information.
Documents from sources connected to a number of the acts scheduled to perform at the July 17 concert indicate that the promoters behind HARD L.A. have canceled the show in light of the new scrutiny and logistics demanded of large-scale electronic music concerts in Los Angeles.
The annual festival this year was to feature acts including M.I.A., Die Antwoord, Flying Lotus, Sleigh Bells and others.
Animator vs. Animation
Get a copy of I AM NUMBER FOUR @ Dark Faerie Tales
I Am Number Four is now being sent out by Book It Forward Tours, a division of Dark Faerie Tales. If you are interested in reading and reviewing this book, please leave a comment with your email and your State. Go here for more details and the requirements.
Synopsis (Product Description):
Nine of us came here. We look like you. We talk like you. We live among you. But we are not you. We can do things you dream of doing. We have powers you dream of having. We are stronger and faster than anything you have ever seen. We are the superheroes you worship in movies and comic books—but we are real.
Our plan was to grow, and train, and become strong, and become one, and fight them. But they found us and started hunting us first. Now all of us are running. Spending our lives in shadows, in places where no one would look, blending in. we have lived among you without you knowing.
But they know.
They caught Number One in Malaysia. Number Two in England. And Number Three in Kenya. They killed them all.
I am Number Four.
I am next.
Twain Unexpurgated
Dead for a Century, Twain Says What He Meant
By LARRY ROHTER
Wry and cranky, droll and cantankerous — that’s the Mark Twain we think we know, thanks to reading “Huck Finn” and “Tom Sawyer” in high school. But in his unexpurgated autobiography, whose first volume is about to be published a century after his death, a very different Twain emerges, more pointedly political and willing to play the role of the angry prophet.
Whether anguishing over American military interventions abroad or delivering jabs at Wall Street tycoons, this Twain is strikingly contemporary. Though the autobiography also contains its share of homespun tales, some of its observations about American life are so acerbic — at one point Twain refers to American soldiers as “uniformed assassins” — that his heirs and editors, as well as the writer himself, feared they would damage his reputation if not withheld.
“From the first, second, third and fourth editions all sound and sane expressions of opinion must be left out,” Twain instructed them in 1906. “There may be a market for that kind of wares a century from now. There is no hurry. Wait and see.”
The Fabulous Beekman Boys – Sexy Sexy Soap On Goat
Thoughts On Making Soaps and Mating Goats At The Fabulous Beekman Boys Farm
In some cultures, three is considered a holy number. In others it is a lucky number. In still more, it an evil number. Whatever your particular beliefs, it’s clear that all of us everywhere, every single person in the whole wide world, has fascination with the number three. And guess what — last week was week number three of the Fabulous Beekman Boys. Woohoo, woohoo!!!
As I recap the episode, I will, as always, use the same scale of goats to indicate whether what I see makes it more or less likely that I follow Josh and Brent‘s example and leave NYC for a simpler life somewhere else.
The episode opens with some sexy sex talk. My hopes soar that this might be the best episode ever, of anything. I realize, however, that it is not human sex talk. It’s goat sex talk.
Rainbowgasm
courtesy of Tucker C
Garlic Aioli
The Fabulous Beekman Boys Ep. #5 – Fresh Cheese and Even Fresher Bacon
Thoughts on Cheese, Chores, and Harvesting Pigs At The Fabulous Beekman Boys Farm
by James Frey, New York
Episode five in week four of The Fabulous Beekman Boys. As far as I know, neither the number four nor five are considered lucky or holy or particularly special. But this episode, I’m betting this episode is something special. Real special, real real, superduper special. As always, I’ll be working with the goat scale.
Brent gets a driving lesson. It is a driving lesson with a tractor. I have stated previously that I think tractors are cool. If I could ride on in NYC, and find somewhere to park, I would. There’s a not a taxi in the city that would fuck with me if I had a tractor. Five goats.
We learn that Brent is a bad driver. Bad drivers are a menace. We learn about Josh and Brent’s childhoods, and see cute pictures of them as kids. Brent likes winning awards. He is a perfectionist. Josh shoots guns and grew up in the country. I knew all of this already, because I have known them for many years, but it’s cute and well done. Brent’s bad: one goat. Cute childhood info: three goats.
Porgie and Bess, the Beekman Pigs. We learn they will be slaughtered soon. Fuck, I like the pigs. They’re fat, and I’m also a little fat, and they like to sleep, as do I, and they’re dirty, as I am sometimes. I don’t want the pigs to go. One goat
Mess With The Bull, And You Get The Gore – Pamplona Bull Run Goes Bloody Awry
I AM NUMBER FOUR First Day Of Filming (YouTube)
With thanks to redchun in Vandergrift, PA for the video
SHE IS NUMBER SIX – Theresa Palmer On Break @ I AM NUMBER FOUR Location
INTERVIEW: The “Magical” Theresa Palmer
By Lynn Barker on July 8, 2010 7:00:00 AM UTC
On a break from shooting the Spielberg-produced Sci Fi film I Am Number Four, Theresa is sitting down with us in Beverly Hills to chat dating nerds, getting advice from Dan Radcliffe, doing stunts, hanging out off the “Sorcerer’s” set with good bud Jay Baruchel and she just revealed which iconic movie star she would love to play some day.
TeenHollywood: Did you enjoy taking on an action role.. or at least climbing a tower and running and saving the day along with the sorcerers?
Theresa: I love being physically challenged in a role and especially in this movie. I felt like ‘Oh, the boys get to do all this cool stuff. When does Becky get to do the cool fun stuff?’ Then I got told I got to do that scene and had a stunt double for me that day but I was like ‘No! Let me do it. Please let me do it! I don’t have a magical power but I want to be able to climb up something and save the world’. And she does. The movie I’m working on now I Am Number Four, is such a physically challenging role. I’m doing martial arts.
TeenHollywood: Tell us about your character in that and the story.
Theresa: I play an alien called “Six”. She’s one of nine aliens hiding out on Earth. An enemy alien found out that we’re hiding here so they’re come to kill us. They can only kill in our number order. They’ve killed One, Two and Three and they’re up to number Four (played by “Beastly’s” Alex Pettyfer).. thus the title but I decide to take matters into my own hands. If they’re going to try to kill us, I’m going to hunt them. Let’s get together and beat them!
[ read full interview with Theresa Palmer @ Teen Hollywood ]
I AM NUMBER FOUR – One-Sheet By Artist Fan taylahbob
I bet we can make these books best sellers
Just What Can’t Betty White Do?
Can social media be focused to achieve a specific goal? It’s a question a Canadian author Catherine McKenzie asked herself when she saw the successful Facebook campaign to get Betty White to host Saturday Night Live.
McKenzie’s goal is to see if a Facebook group can be used to turn a book into a bestseller, and accordingly named her group “I bet we can make these books bestsellers”. Since starting the group in mid-May, it has grown to almost 800 members, and a related group on Goodreads has over 160 members.
The first two books McKenzie chose are Wyoming author Shawn Klomparens’ Jessica Z. and Two Years, No Rain. Of Jessica Z., Jeff VanderMeer of Ominovarious and the Huffington Post wrote that it “combines the concerns of literary fiction about sex and relationships with the kind of paralyzing sense of dread fueled by the continuing erosion of civil liberties. (…) Klomparens’s particular gift is to embed the details of our self-induced dissolution into an erotic coming-of-age story that’s not only slyly funny at times but has aspects of a thriller.”
I joined this group and am curious to see how it turns out. The more books people buy, the better.
Facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113149048727107
Goodreads group:
http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/33611.Make_a_book_a_bestseller
Shawn Klomparens’ website:
www.shawnklomparens.com
Catherine McKenzie’s website:
www.catherinemckenzie.com
Terry Richardson No Longer Banned By W
After a 14 Year “Ban” Terry Richardson Back to Shooting for W
By Steve Delahoyde on Jun 22, 2010 07:00 AM
This writer figures that we’re all adults here and you can make up your own minds about regularly-controversial photographer Terry Richardson.
So feel free to take it as either the turning of a new leaf or the disintegration of principles with the news that, after a ban of nearly a decade and a half, Richardson is shooting again for W. With a big batch of job shifting going on at the magazine recently (mostly out the door) due to new editor Stefano Tonchi running the ship, the photographer has a bulky spread in their July issue, called ” Lunch Break.”
As New York‘s fashion blog reports, this follows the magazine refusing to hire him since 1996 when then-art director Dennis Freeman“reportedly banned Richardson from his pages after taking offense to a photo the photographer took of a model with her head in the oven.”
No More Raves in L.A.
Steven Spielberg & George Lucas Get Their Rockwells On
America, Illustrated
By DEBORAH SOLOMON
IN an age when Democrats and Republicans are barely on speaking terms, you might not think that decades-old paintings of freckled schoolboys and their loyal mutts could help revive the conversation about what we value as a nation. Yet Norman Rockwell’s cheerful America has lately acquired a startling relevance both inside and outside the art world, in part because it symbolizes an era when connectivity did not require a USB cable.
Rockwell’s paintings are easy to recognize. In the years surrounding World War II his covers for The Saturday Evening Post depicted America as a small-town utopia where people are consistently decent and possess great reserves of fellow-feeling. Doctors spend time with patients whether or not they have health insurance. Students cherish their teachers and remember their birthdays. Citizens at town hall meetings stand up and speak their mind without getting booed or shouted down by gun-toting rageaholics.
This is America before the fall, or at least before searing divisions in our government and general population shattered any semblance of national solidarity. Rockwell’s scenes of the small and the local speak to us in the age of the global because they offer a fantasy of civic togetherness that today seems increasingly remote. “To me the most important part of Rockwell’s work is that it illustrates compassion and caring about other people,” the filmmaker George Lucas, who lives in Marin County, Calif., said recently. “You could almost say he was a Buddhist painter.”
Steven Spielberg, speaking from Los Angeles, had similar praise. “Anything for Norman,” he said, when asked to discuss his work. “He was always on my mind because I had a great deal of respect for how he could tell stories in a single frozen image. Entire stories.”
The Cowboy Poetry Gathering @ Elko 2010
“Who Is Leah Reader”, asks Pittacus Lore
from Leah Reader’s Words Fail Me Blog
WHO IS PITTACUS LORE?
The latest YA mega-sensation poised to vie for Twilight’s throne is the book I Am Number Four
But just who is Pittacus Lore? According to HarperCollins’s author page:
Pittacus Lore is Lorien’s ruling Elder. He has been on Earth for the last twelve years, preparing for the war that will decide Earth’s fate. His whereabouts are unknown.
You see, the book is actually written by one of the characters in the book. Neat! Crazy! Mind-bending!
Except Pittacus Lore is actually James Frey, the notorious liar and drug addict whose“memoir” A Million Little Pieces was revealed to be more fiction than non-fiction (afterOprah embarrassingly lauded Mr. Frey for his gritty honesty).
So, y’know, just keep that in mind: Pittacus Lore is James Frey. James Frey is Pittacus Lore. The same James Frey who scammed Oprah and millions of naive memoir-readers. The same James Frey who somehow still has a literary career, utilizing various pseudonyms to publish shitty books. That James Frey.
Uncorking a Bottle of Wine With Your Chaussure
The Fabulous Beekman Boys Ep. #2 – Report From James Frey
Should I Stay or Should I Go? Thoughts on an “Unhappy Birthday” at the Beekman Boys Farm
by James Frey, New York
I missed episode two. How did I do that? They played two on the first night. I wasn’t paying attention. I figured it was one episode per week. My bad. I get a dumbass award.
Wonderful episode three. Another chapter in the epic tale of the Fabulous Beekman Boys. Let’s get into it. Let’s get into it right away. As with my last recap, I’ll be using a scale of one to five goats to indicate whether the events depicted on the show make it more or less likely for me to move out of New York to a farm of my own.
We learn that it is the weekend of Josh’s 40th birthday. He’s excited and hoping for a fun weekend. He finds out Brent has rented out the farm to a young couple for their wedding. They learned of the farm in an article in the New York Times. The idea of hosting a wedding at my house is horrifying. The idea of my house being written about in the New York Times is even more horrifying. One goat.
Josh is pissed. Rightfully so. I know Josh and he likes his birthday. The idea that one’s spouse would pimp out your house and not do anything for your 40th birthday, which is the birthday where you are officially kind of old, is not a good idea. One goat.
[ click to continue James’ review of The Beekman Boys @ Treehugger ]
Pole Dancing Where You Can’t Even See The Girl’s Butt And There’s Some Guy Doing It With Her, Too
I AM NUMBER FOUR On Sale August 3
from HarperCollins’ I AM NUMBER FOUR blog
Breaking News… on-sale date is now August 3!
Great news!!! I Am Number Four’s on-sale date has been moved up by TWO WEEKS! Now you’ll be able to pick it up on August 3, wherever books are sold. Be sure to grab your copy of the novel behind the upcoming feature film directed by D. J. Caruso and produced by Michael Bay. Your wait is almost over. Seven weeks to go!
