Bad Pop’s “Harvest The Beast” Released
Singaporean Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign – Brilliant
Teresa Palmer’s Kick-butt Fantasies of Angelina Jolie
Teresa Palmer casting her spell
Sorcerer’s Apprentice star Teresa Palmer leaves behind some awkward years as she heads up the Hollywood starlet ranks, writes Jacqueline Smith.
It’s hard to believe Teresa Palmer was less than a babe at school, but she insists she did her time as the nerdy kid.
“I was so dorky up until I was about 14 or 15 and started to get a little bit cooler, but I was a socks and sandals girl. I would wear big frilly socks with sandals and all the kids would tease me.”
Having dealt with her own awkward stage, Palmer says she was able to identify with the nerdy hero of her latest film the The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
She recently fulfilled another fantasy by playing the kick-butt Angelina Jolie-style character in I Am Number Four – dressed top to toe in leather, beating people up and riding a motorcycle. But what is most exciting about that film is she is not only the tough-chick, but the Australian tough-chick.
“It was so refreshing because I haven’t been allowed to be an Aussie so far in my career. But they decided that my character, who is an alien, was placed in Australia as a young girl and grew up as an Australian, so I got to keep my accent – even my Adelaide one, my very thick South Australian accent,” she says proudly.
Clemens And Frey In Slate
Roger Clemens, James Frey, and the Thrill of Watching the Overly Ambitious Fall
Which is worse: lying to Congress or lying to Oprah?
When the news broke that former MLB star Roger Clemens was being indicted for perjury about his alleged steroid use, the figure who sprang to mind, despite coming from an entirely different world, was James Frey, the notorious memoirist publicly indicted for lying in his 2003 bestselling memoir (and Oprah Book Club selection), A Million Little Pieces. To a writer writing on scandal, Frey obviously holds a certain fascination: If I ever find myself in the midst of a horrible scandal, it’s probably going to be over something I publish, too. But more to the point, what unites these seemingly disparate figures is the charge of illicitly boosting their games by employing prohibited substances (anabolic steroids and fictional experiences, respectively). In other words, these are scandals of ambition. They’re about people doing what it takes—or what they believe it takes—to enhance their position in the marketplace. Though … doesn’t everyone, pretty much?
Modern market-societies require ambition because they’re premised on social mobility. The founding principal of democratic society is that your position in the world doesn’t derive from your origins, it’s determined by your talents and achievements. But there’s a stumbling block for the ambitious: It’s the market that determines which talents count toward achievement at any given moment. Which is where the Clemens and Frey scandals converge. It’s not that either of them were talentless schlubs who got where they did on sheer fakery. What they did was augment the talents they had in order to conform to the current demands of the marketplace. (Clemens still denies it, though no one believes him.) They may have broken the prevailing rules of their respective games—baseball and memoir-writing—but as to whether steroids should be legal or will be eventually (maybe), or if memoirists are generally so truthful (probably not), things are not exactly simple. “All memoirists lie,” says memoirist André Aciman; on the prevalence of performance-enhancing substances in sports, please consult the work of another noted memoirist, Jose Canseco.
Ambition is excessive, by its very nature. It’s predicated on desire, which is inherently limitless: When is enough ever enough when it comes to these bottomless wells of yearning? In the case of the vastly talented Clemens, the desire might have been to eke a few more playing years out of his talents—a few more wins, maybe a World Series, though he probably would have made it to the Hall of Fame even without a chemical boost. But apparently he didn’t care to be put out to pasture quite yet, or limp toward the end of his career. As for Frey, the back-story is a little more complicated, as the intersections of art and commerce tend to be. Here was an aspiring novelist who tried to publish a novel. His agent submitted it to 17 publishers; no one would buy it. When she added that it was based on a true story, he got offers—an unknown recovery memoirist looked like a more commercial prospect than an unknown first-time novelist, even though it was basically the same story. So he rewrote it to suit the dictates of the market.
Scandal specializes in revealing open secrets, and here’s one to consider. All writers write for the marketplace. If they don’t, they don’t get published, increasingly so these days, given the corporatization of publishing, the insistence on increased profits. Yes, Frey produced a book that would sell instead of the novel he wanted to write, and based on his sales figures, he wrote exactly the book the marketplace wanted, a huge commercial success. In business lingo, you would call him a product innovator: He merged the realist novel with the true-life recovery narrative, reinvigorating the form and reaping the rewards. His critics seemed to think he should have played by the rules instead of doing what it took to succeed, ignoring commercial pressures in a grand romantic gesture, as if it was up to Frey to singlehandedly contest the momentum of global capitalism. But here’s a question: Do any of us?
Lawyer Burns Koran and Bible, Then Inhales
Australian lawyer smokes pages of Bible and Koran, asking ‘Which is best?’
An Australian lawyer, Alex Stewart, has smoked pages torn from the Koran and the Bible, posting the video on YouTube just days after an American Pastor’s threat to burn the Muslim holy book caused worldwide outrage.
Australian atheist lawyer Alex Stewart smokes rolled cigarette Photo: SPLASH NEWS
In a 12-minute clip entitled “Bible or Koran – which burns best?” Mr Stewart, who works for the Queensland University of Technology, holds up the two religious texts before ripping them apart and lighting the rolled up pages.
At one stage he inhales deeply from one of the roll-ups before blowing out the smoke and commenting: “Holy”.
Katonah Poetry Series Under Threat
Even Poetry Is Undergoing Cutbacks
By PETER APPLEBOME
It’s not clear what’s more unlikely — that for 43 years most of the nation’s best-known poets have come to the modest Katonah Library for a poetry series begun by a former Mad Men-era adman, or that in this high-dollar address the series is now struggling to scrape together $6,000 to keep going.
Still, there’s a small tale of the arts in the real world in the long life and shaky future of the Katonah Poetry Series, which began in 1967 and now has no director or money for anything beyond what could be its last reading on Oct. 3.
“I said at one point that if you sat on the steps of the Katonah Library for 25 years without moving, you would have seen pretty much every major American poet walk through the doors,” said Billy Collins, the former United States poet laureate who was director of the series from 1991 to 2008. “It’s surprising and dismaying to me that this series could be breathing its last breath surrounded by such affluence.”
Jimi Hendrix A Sci-Fi Buff
Jimi Hendrix and His Science Fiction Bookshelf
Most people don’t remember anymore, but rock legend Jimi Hendrix was a science fiction book junkie. We caught up with one the guitarist’s biographers to find out more about his science fiction bookshelf.
In the new book, Becoming Jimi Hendrix: From Southern Crossroads to Psychedelic London, the Untold Story of a Musical Genius, authors Steven Roby and Brad Schreiber take a deeper look at the guitarist.
According to Schreiber, Philip Jose Farmer‘s Night of Light had a big influence on Hendrix. “Night of Light was a science fiction book that in 1966 inspired Jimi to eventually write ‘Purple Haze.’ Farmer’s story had to do with sunspots having a disorienting effect on a distant planet’s population. Jimi wrote pages and pages of lyrics for ‘Purple Haze,’ originally an epic tale of the history of warfare for the control of the planet Neptune,” he explained.
He added: “Producer Kim Fowley told us that when he met Jimi early in 1967 in the UK, Jimi had a trunk of books, all science fiction.”
Dianna Agron Looking Forward To Being A Bad Ass
Glee Whiz
Brett Berk and Paola Kudacki spotlight Dianna Agron, Glee’s Quinn Fabray, who has more than pom-poms up her sleeve.
By Brett Berk•Photographs by Paola Kudacki•Styled by Jessica Diehl
October 2010
Dianna Agron wants to show us another side, and we shouldn’t be surprised that she has one. The 24-year-old Glee star—she plays cheerleader Quinn Fabray, in case you’ve been in cryogenic suspension since 2009—grew up taking ballet lessons, but her nickname was Charlie, for her male alter ego and the star of the short stories she’d write in high school. She revered equally the poised Audrey Hepburn and the madcap Lucille Ball. And she’s become famous for playing a virginal, super-popular, conservative cheerleader who gets pregnant, joins the show choir, and starts agitating for all the misfits there. Her intrepid contrariety explains her latest film project as well: I Am Number Four, which comes out this winter and is based on the first in James Frey’s pseudonymous series of young-adult novels. “I’m likening it to Rebel Without a Cause,” Agron explained. “With supernatural elements. And aliens.” Having had the opportunity to perform chase scenes and jump off buildings, she’s ready to add other weapons to her pom-pom arsenal. “I want to be badass,” she cracked. We can’t wait to watch that.
Lady Gaga In Terry Richardson’s Raw
Vogue Homme Japan Lady Gaga Cover by Terry Richardson
06 September 2010, 13.15
William Gibson On The Future Of The Book
William Gibson On the Future of Publishing: Made to Order Books
By Steven Kurutz
It’s no surprise that William Gibson is a prolific user of Twitter. The author of science-fiction classics like “Neuromancer” and “Spook Country” has long been interested in emerging technology. In recent years, Gibson has abandoned the speculative world of sci-fi to write thrillers set in the present-day. As he told an interviewer in 2004, “Finding myself actually in the 21st century really makes want to write about the actual 21st century, which is stranger and more complicated than anything I would have been allowed to come up with.”
Gibson’s new novel, “Zero History,” similarly explores modern culture, particularly the cult of consumerism and marketing. Speakeasy will publish a longer Q&A with Gibson about his new book tomorrow. In the meantime, we wanted to get his take on a much-debated hot topic: the future of book publishing. As you might expect, Gibson had some interesting things to say on the subject.
Callan McAuliffe on Kicking Bad Alien Ass
Interview with Callan McAuliffe
August 30, 2010 by Mike Gencarelli
Aussie breakthrough Callan McAuliffe might wear his heart on his sleeve as the lead in Rob Reiner’s “Flipped,” but it’s unclear if he’ll even have a human heart in “I Am Number Four.”
McAuliffe has just wrapped the highly anticipated Stephen Spielberg/Michael Bay feature which is directed by D.J. Caruso, but he’s still not saying whether he’s an actual teen or an alien pretending to be a teen in the movie.
“I’m not going to tell you,” he says to PopcornBiz frequent inquiries. “The whole plan is the aliens are trying to blend in.”
So there is an attempt to keep the actual alien identities secret during the run up to the film’s autumn release. The action story centers around a group of aliens who escape from their mortal alien enemies only to find out they are being hunted down on Earth.
Callan says he is in a very different world from “Flipped,” where he happily planted a tree and talked about his feelings.
“There will be no planting of trees in this next film,” he laughs. “And I definitely get the chance to kick some ass.” Look out bad aliens.
U.S. Open Moves To Jersey Shore
“Sounding like a demonic Stephen Hawking…”
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
01/09/2010
The alien author of the next literary phenomenon talks to The Big Issue
If you didn’t know there was a secret war between alien species taking place on Earth as we speak, you soon will as the release of ‘I Am Number Four’ launches a franchise set to eclipse all memories of Harry Potter and moody vampires. With a movie adaptation from none other than Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay already in production, author Pittacus Lore is about to become one of the hottest names on the planet.
But not just this planet. Pittacus is in actual fact a 10,000 year old being with superhuman abilities from the planet Lorien, recently annihilated by the vicious Mogadorians who, unless the few surviving Loriens can stop them, will destroy us next. A refugee living secretly among us, Pittacus is guardian to the last nine Lorien youths, who hold the future of their race and ours in their hands.
‘I Am Number Four’ picks up after teens One through Three have already been assassinated and the others live under constant threat. As a result, Lore speaks to The Big Issue using an electronic voice distorter to protect his true identity (his number was a New York State code for any Mogadorians reading).
Sounding like a demonic Stephen Hawking, here is the exclusive transcript of my first ever extraterrestrial interview.
“WHEEEEEE!!!!” LET’S TORTURE HER. Psycho-chick Throwing Puppies Into River With Glee
Spinebreakers Interview With Pittacus Lore
Pittacus Lore
Spinebreakers interview Pittacus Lore
By Alex, Charlie, Nicole, Cameron, Jasmin, Lauren, Amy and Max / Spinebreakers Crew
Alex: What inspired you to write I Am Number Four?
Pittacus Lore: To let the people on Earth know what was going on here. To alert them to the war raging in their midst.
Alex: Have you always dreamed of being a published author?
Pittacus Lore: No, I’ve dreamed of vanquishing my enemies and living in peace.
Charlie: What, would you say, is the most significant difference and the most striking similarity between ‘you Loriens’ and ‘us Humans?’
Pittacus Lore: We have powers that you can only dream of. We can do things beyond your imagination. We feel things in the same way you do, love and anger and sadness, and we look the same as you, but we’re much more highly evolved.
Charlie: What’s the best joke you’ve ever heard about a Mogadorian?
Pittacus Lore: A Guy walks into a bar, sits downs and starts to make conversation with a guy at the next table. “Want to hear the world’s worst Mogadorian Joke?” The other guy says “Sure, but before you tell it, let me tell you something. See those two bikers over there by the door, those tow real mean-looking dudes? They’re Mogadorian. And those two bouncers by the bar? They’re Mogadorian too! The Bartender is also Mogadorian! And one more thing pal, I’m Mogadorian too… Now, do you still want to tell that joke of yours?” “Hell no!”, replies the first guy, “I don’t want to have to explain it six times!”
Nicole: I noticed that your book made a social comment about the environment and sustainability. The Mogadorians are wasteful whilst the Lorien are wise and resourceful; Earth falls somewhere in the middle. Did you consciously implement the social comment so your audience could reflect on society as a whole?
Pittacus Lore: Our goal is to tell the story of our fight with the Mogadorians, and warn the people of Earth that they are in danger. I think earth could be headed towards environmental destruction if ways aren’t changed, but our goal was to bring about that change. Our goal was to get people to read our story, and if they can, help us fight.
Nicole: Should we expect more books to come?Pittacus Lore: If we live, yes, there will be more books.
Cameron: What do you think makes I Am Number Four different from all the other fantasy-adventure-epic-romance-teen books out there?
Pittacus Lore: Our story is real, and our story involves the future of your planet. The rest are pure fiction.
Find Your Legacy
James Frey YA Alien Invasion
A Flood of Alien-Invasion Projects Is Approaching — But Why?
This is the Nazi one.Photo: Iron Sky
Do you enjoy movies and TV shows about alien invasions? Great news, then: There is a ridiculous number of upcoming movies and TV shows about alien invasions! That includes (deep breath):Falling Skies (Steven Spielberg alien invasion); Super 8 (secret Spielberg-indebted JJ Abrams alien invasion); Battle: Los Angeles (pro–U.S. Military alien invasion); I Am Number Four (James Frey YA alien invasion); Cowboys and Aliens (period-piece alien invasion); Monsters (romance/alien invasion); The Event (Lost-replacing alien invasion); Skyline (human-tornado alien invasion);Men in Black III (franchised alien invasion); The Thing (prequel alien invasion); Battleship(childhood-toy alien invasion); Iron Sky (dark-side-of-the-moon Nazis alien invasion). Andexhale.
Will this new surge of alien-invasion projects be met with boffo box-office tallies and ratings? We have no idea! Will this new surge of alien invasion projects be met with oodles of theories by pop-culture “experts” purporting to explain the sociological reasons behind the new surge of alien-invasion projects? Absolutely! Can we try to predict the most popular alien-invasion theories ahead of time, handicapping their individual odds of emerging as the reigning alien-invasion invasion theory? Why, yes.
Koons CT Scanner for RxArt
Jeff Koons Redesigns CT Scanner Hospital Rooms for RxArt
No matter your opinion of Jeff Koons (we’re looking at you, angry French men), here’s something you’ll have to give the guy credit for. The non-profit group RxArt, which was founded by art dealer Diane Brown to help redesign hospital interiors to make them less sterile and fear inducing, had long considered Koons the one artist they’d love to work with, having already commissioned pro-bono work from people like R. Crumb and John Margolis. While they thought it would be nearly impossible to talk him into it, given his celebrity, the artist agreed readily.
Destruction in Slow-motion
with thanks for the tip to W.T.A. Cameron
NUMBER FOUR Scores A Girlfriend
Alex Pettyfer: Dianna Agron’s Basketball Boyfriend
Alex Pettyfer helps his new girlfriend Dianna Agron shoot some hoops while on break from filming Glee in Los Angeles on Tuesday night (August 23).
The duo star in the upcoming I Am Number Four, story of nine aliens who escape their planet and hide out on Earth. Disguised as a human teenager, the title character (Pettyfer) discovers that he is being hunted by the enemy that destroyed his planet.
The novel of the same name by Pittacus Lore is currently at #7 on the New York Times Best Sellers List. Have you picked up the book yet? You must! JJJ just got done reading it and it’s a fantastic adventure of what-ifs and action.
Also, don’t forget to enter Movieline’s contest to win tickets to the premiere!
[ click to continue reading at Just Jared Jr. ]
I AM NUMBER FOUR Book Review
Mozart’s Death Lives On
After Mozart’s Death, an Endless Coda
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
Direct medical evidence? None. Autopsy? Not performed. Medical records? Nowhere to be found. Corpse? Disappeared.
Yet according to a recent article in an academic journal, researchers have posited at least 118 causes of death for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
A modest industry of medical speculation has grown up around the subject, evidence of our fascination with what cut down great creative artists in history. In Mozart’s case published speculation began within a month of his death in 1791, and musicologists, physicians and medical scholars have regularly joined the fray ever since.
Dr. William J. Dawson, a retired orthopedic surgeon who is the bibliographer for the Performing Arts Medical Association, decided to organize the theories. He examined most of the 136 entries in the association’s database dedicated to Mozart’s death, a list by no means comprehensive.
“Reviewing the publications on this topic finds many of them to be confusing, complicated, conjectural and contentious,” Dr. Dawson, an emeritus professor at Northwestern University’s medical school, wrote in the latest issue of the association’s journal, Medical Problems of Performing Artists. His conclusion is not surprising: controversy will rage on, unabated.
With direct evidence lacking, researchers have had to rely mainly on accounts by Mozart’s widow, Constanze Mozart, and her sister, Sophie Haibel, given some decades later. Evidence also comes from an undated document by Mozart’s son Karl Thomas and from a description — again, decades later — by a Viennese doctor who spoke to the physicians who treated Mozart in his final days.
Scholars have also examined accounts of Mozart’s ailments in letters written by family members, especially his father, Leopold, to uncover signposts regarding his final sickness. Speculation about an abnormality in the shape of his ear has even led some to suggest that kidney failure was likely, since urinary tract deformities are sometimes related to ear abnormalities.
19y.o. + Black Trans Am + 100mph + Bridge Abutment = And He Lives (Or, The Concrete Wins Yet Life Prevails)
“A sprawling epic about the porn business in LA.”
HBO eyes show on L.A. porn business
Mark Wahlberg, Steve Levinson developing the project
Aug 19, 2010, 07:28 AM ET
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HBO is working on a hour-long drama series about the porn business that will use actors and adult performers.
The New York Post reported Thursday that “Entourage” and “Boardwalk Empire” executive producers Mark Wahlberg and Steve Levinson are working on the project with controversial writer James Frey who is penning the pilot.
“The plot will focus on a giant video company under siege from Internet competitors and a girl from the Midwest whose boyfriend convinces her to move to Los Angeles to become a star,” the Post wrote.
“We’re going to make a sprawling epic about the porn business in LA,” Frey told the paper.” We’re going to tell the type of stories no one else has told before, and go places no one has gone before.”
[ click to read at The Hollywood Reporter ]
I AM NUMBER FOUR Book Trailer 8/17
Glenn Goldman’s Gold
Selling the Treasures of Book Soup’s Late Owner
“When you get a call about books, you hope to hear two things,” says Catherine Williamson, director of fine books and manuscripts at Bonhams & Butterfields, the house that is running the sale. “That the collection belonged to someone who follows the rare-book trade, or that it belonged to someone well-connected. Glenn was both.”
Known for high-profile signings that wrapped crowds around the block of its Sunset Boulevard digs, Goldman turned Book Soup into a model of a modern, major independent bookstore. Literary (and actual) rock stars sign there, as do artists, politicians, actors and porn stars.
While he certainly had a soft spot for the flashy guest author, Goldman did not mess around when it came to collecting. There are first editions, and then there are first editions. He owned, for instance, a first edition of James Joyce‘s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. It went up for auction in New York last month along with the choicest bits from his collection, including a first edition, first issue of Steinbeck’s first book, Cup of Gold.
The single most coveted book in the July L.A. sale was a signed copy of photographer Richard Avedon‘s Observations, with commentary by Truman Capote. Williamson believes it will attract more interest than even the signed, first edition copy of Raymond Carver‘s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love.
Dr. Elliot Stout – Sadly Gone (Thank you thank you, Dr. Stout)
with thanks to Dave Bussan
Suspect tells police he “was just swagging”
Indiana Man In Saggy Pants Bust
Suspect, 21, told police he “was just swagging”
AUGUST 18–An Indiana man was arrested last night after cops spotted him with his pants “pulled down to his knees” and his boxer shorts exposed.
Demetrius Russ, 21, was sitting on top of an electrical box talking on his phone when approached by cop Daniel Green. According to an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department report, after Russ ignored Green’s repeated requests to provide ID, he announced, “You can’t ask me for shit.” Green reported telling Russ that he was “sitting on private property with his pants pulled down on top of an electrical box.”
Russ’s perch can be seen in this Google Street View photo.
When Green asked why his pants were so droopy, Russ noted that he “was just swagging.” The officer replied that, “swagging did not involve exposing your genitals through your boxers because your pants were pulled down all the way.” The term “swagging” generally refers to getting your drink on.
During his interaction with Green, a “belligerent” Russ allegedly cursed frequently and called the cop “nigga and muthafucker on several occasions.” While police contended that Russ appeared drunk, he claimed to have only consumed “one 40 ounce.”
I AM NUMBER FOUR Movie Premiere Tickets
‘I Am Number Four’ Movie Premiere Sweepstakes
Could there be another ‘Harry Potter’-type franchise brewing in Hollywood?
Featured on the New York Times Bestseller list less than two weeks after its release, ‘I Am Number Four’ by Pittacus Lore is currently being adapted to film by director D.J. Carusoand producer Steven Spielberg.
The sci-fi novel is the first in the Lorien Legacies, which will chronicle the captivating tales of a group of teen aliens running from a dark past. The characters, forced off their home planet, struggle to reinvent their existence … on Earth, among humans.
‘I Am Number Four,’ which will star Timothy Olyphant and Alex Pettyfer in the film adaptation, follows alien Number Four as he tries to escape his unique and deadly fate. The extraordinary adventure is an exciting blend of aliens, romance and drama.
In anticipation of the film release of ‘I Am Number Four,’ we’ve teamed up with Harper Collins for a massive sweepstakes. One Grand Prize winner will receive a three-day / two-night trip to the ‘I Am Number Four’ movie premiere next year. The prize package will include two tickets to the premiere event, roundtrip airfare for two and hotel accommodations.
[ click to read and sign-up for the contest at moviefone.com ]
Dumbasses
Rare yellow lobster dies in captivity
Saturday, August 14th 2010, 9:48 AM
Perez/AP
Denny Ingram shows off a yellow lobster he caught in Newport, R.I.
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. – A rare yellow lobster pulled from Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay – a one-in-30-million find – was found dead Friday in its protective tank.
The University of Rhode Island, which was keeping the crustacean, said it hadn’t eaten for several days and was “stressed to death” from too much attention.
The yellow lobster was caught last month by lobsterman Denny Ingram.
He temporarily made it available for display in the lobstermen’s co-op building at the State Pier in Newport. Ingram then gave the lobster to URI, which kept the lobster in a secluded protective tank.
[ click to read at NYDailyNews.com ]