Skylight Books LA – Just Like Shangri-La
How Long Before Dr. Drew Starts Picking Over The Corpse Of Corey Haim
Haim On You, Dr. Drew
Posted By: Tony O’Neill
They say there are certain inevitabilities in life. As the old cliché goes taxes and death are two of them, and here’s another: As soon as a celebrity dies of a drug overdose, Dr. Drew Pinsky will appear on my television screen before the body has even had time to cool, trying to sell whatever reality show crap he’s hustling this week.
Corey Haim died this morning of an overdose. If Dr Drew hasn’t already booked himself on The View before I am even done typing this, I’m taking bets on how long it is before he appears, like a grave robber relieving the corpse of gold teeth, to give his usual sales pitch, all dressed up as a faux-concerned “Although Corey Haim wasn’t a patient of mine, blah blah blah” speech. I have many problems with Dr. Drew. The first is that he is rather indiscriminate about who he decides is an addict. Anybody who has ever smoked pot, drank booze or even had sex is apparently an addict, so long as they are desperate enough to debase themselves on one of his reality shows. This season on Celebrity Rehab, as well as having real addicts like Mike Starr from Alice in Chains, and Tom Sizemore, we also had people like Kari Ann Peniche (best known for, uh, being in Sex Rehab with Dr. Drew) who was there because she knew how to play the role of the reality show villain really well, and Lisa D’Amato who was apparently a contestant on America’s Next Top Model, who liked to have a drink now and then. She wasn’t as hilariously pouty or dramatic as Ms. Peniche, so I guess they needed D’Amato to make up numbers.
This dearth of actual addicts is not just because it’s season three and Drew is running out of fresh meat. In season one he had Jaimee Foxworth from Family Matters, in rehab supposedly because she was “addicted” to marijuana. (Her appearance on this reality show was nothing to do with her porno career tanking, I’ll bet.) When she came in Drew warned her—with a straight face, no less—that she might expect some “heroin-like” withdrawal effects when she stopped smoking. Which might have played in the 1930s when all most people knew about pot came from the insane fantasies of Harry J. Anslinger and movies like Reefer Madness, but in 2010 a statement like that just serves to totally undermine whatever credibility the doctor has. Remember this is a man who appeared in Wild Hogs with Tim Allen, so he doesn’t have a whole lot to start off with.
But no, instead of getting into all of that—which is a whole article in and of itself—lets just sit back in wonder at the shamelessness of a man who thinks that news of another untimely celebrity death is the perfect opportunity to boost his ratings. If anyone has actually gone though rehab (full disclosure: I have, for a monstrous heroin/crack/meth rampage which took up most of my late teens and twenties) they will know that the rehab in Celebrity Rehab bears no more resemblance to a real rehab than the set of Rock of Love: Charm School did to a Swedish finishing school for young ladies. Instead what we see on Celebrity Rehab is more like a drug den for people whose addiction is to being on TV. And Dr. Drew, for all of his empathetic looks, nods and pseudo-wisdom on the subject of addiction is not the dispassionate clinician he likes to portray, but the instead the dealer, doling out another hit of public exposure and kinda-sorta fame to his jonseing clients.
I would love to see what Dr Drew thinks of prohibition itself, and whether he thinks that lives could be saved be decriminalizing drug use and moving to a more progressive position on the whole matter. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that prescribing heroin to heroin addicts leads to much better success rates than either methadone or prison, and that criminalizing a huge segment of our population for smoking an herb as benign as marijuana is costly, counterproductive and ineffective. But just like the drug cartels and the politicians, the Dr. Drews of this world need the status quo to be preserved. After all, in a post-prohibition society Dr. Drew couldn’t build his empire by pathologizing and exploiting drug users. Maybe then he could get back to what he was best at: sitting around with Adam Corolla and telling us whether we really can catch crabs from toilet seats.
Tony O’Neill is the author of the novels Down and Out in Murder Mile and the forthcoming Sick City.
Cutesy Caravaggio v. Manly Michelangelo
An Italian Antihero’s Time to Shine
ROME — By at least one amusing new metric, Michelangelo’s unofficial 500-year run at the top of the Italian art charts has ended. Caravaggio, who somehow found time to paint when he wasn’t brawling, scandalizing pooh-bahs, chasing women (and men), murdering a tennis opponent with a dagger to the groin, fleeing police assassins or getting his face mutilated by one of his many enemies, has bumped him from his perch.
That’s according to an art historian at the University of Toronto, Philip Sohm. He has studied the number of writings (books, catalogs and scholarly papers) on both of them during the last 50 years. Mr. Sohm has found that Caravaggio has gradually, if unevenly, overtaken Michelangelo.
He has charts to prove it.
The change, most obvious since the mid-1980s, doesn’t exactly mean Michelangelo has dropped down the memory hole. To judge from the throngs still jamming the Sistine Chapel and lining up outside the Accademia in Florence to check out “David,” his popularity hasn’t dwindled much.
But, charts or no charts, Mr. Sohm has touched on something. Caravaggiomania, as he calls it, implies not just that art history doctoral students may finally be struggling to think up anything fresh to say about Michelangelo. It suggests that the whole classical tradition in which Michelangelo was steeped is becoming ever more foreign and therefore seemingly less germane, even to many educated people. His otherworldly muscle men, casting the damned into hell or straining to emerge from thick blocks of veined marble, aspired to an abstract and bygone ideal of the sublime, grounded in Renaissance rhetoric, which, for postwar generations, now belongs with the poetry of Alexander Pope or plays by Corneille as admirable but culturally remote splendors.
Chef Nobu’s Pan-Fried Salmon With Genmai Salsa
The Music Of The Web
BookCourt Launches “Cousin Corrine’s Reminder”
Indie bookstore set to launch literary journal
Who says print is dead?
Brooklyn’s growing literary landscape will get a new addition in a few weeks when Cobble Hill indie bookstore BookCourt launches its own journal.
“It seemed like a natural step, with all of the great ideas that flow through this establishment,” said Zach Zook, the Court St. store’s general manager and the journal’s executive editor.
The twice-yearly publication, dubbed “Cousin Corrine’s Reminder,” will feature more than 150 pages of fiction and photography from local and international artists and authors, as well as a graphics section curated by Brooklyn comic book author Dean Haspiel.
“You’ll be seeing essays and pictures, and then you’ll come to the literary equivalent of the Sunday comics,” Haspiel said.
The journal is the first publication of Zook’s independent book imprint, Cousin Corrine, named for a relative who bequeathed the seed money for the store to his parents, Mary Gannett and Henry Zook. Zach Zook is also hoping to publish first-run fiction paperbacks, pocket-sized photo books and maybe even a children’s line.
For the first edition, Haspiel teamed with “Motherless Brooklyn” writer Jonathan Lethem on a piece that chronicles Lethem’s daily walk to work along Nevins St.
Controversial author James Frey is contributing what he describes as “this weird little dictionary” of Hollywood jobs, which offers a biting commentary on the entertainment industry.
Frey said he wanted to give back to BookCourt for its support, even after the 2006 controversy over the truth of bits of his best-selling memoir “A Million Little Pieces” and his resulting feud with Oprah Winfrey. Plus, he said, he’s a fan of independent bookstores.
“They’re an important part of literary culture,” Frey said. “It’s the same reason I don’t want all the diners in New York to go away and be replaced by McDonald’s.”
BookHampton Amagansett Gone
BookHampton Closes Amagansett Store
After two years of business in Amagansett Square, BookHampton may have closed its Amagansett location, but its Sag Harbor store, pictured here with manager Sarah Doherty and Barry Lisee, is still going strong. Hampton owner Charline Spektor this week announced the independent bookstore would close the location, citing economics and “the surprising lack of foot-traffic in Amagansett.”
“East Hampton is a thriving store and they were too close together,” Spektor said on Tuesday. She added in addition to the East Hampton branch of BookHampton, both the Sag Harbor and Southampton locations continue to operate successfully.
BookHampton at Amagansett Square was originally conceived as a store to focus on children, keeping in character with Amagansett’s family-centric community, although the location maintained a collection of other genres of literature as well as DVDs, merchandise and CDs. Spektor said on Tuesday all three remaining BookHampton locations, in particular Sag Harbor, continue to operate with full children’s sections.
The Rico Suave Bandit
Wily dodges point to single culprit in high-profile Los Angeles heists
Thefts that depend on role playing and charm point to a single burglar being the likely suspect in heists of jewelry and cash from sports teams, a salsa band and a sugar baron in town for the Oscars.
By Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton
For the “Rico Suave” bandit, the weapons of choice are charm, disguise and the power of persuasion.
In August, the man slicked back his hair and pretended to be a member of a salsa band playing the Greek Theatre. He talked a clerk at the Wilshire Grand hotel into giving him the keys to the band’s room and made off with $9,000. On his way out, he gave the clerk the band’s CD.
A few weeks later, he donned a Chivas soccer jersey and hugged members of the Mexican team as they left another downtown L.A. hotel, the Marriott, on a team bus. Then, posing as a member of the team’s entourage, he persuaded a hotel clerk to give him the team’s room keys, making off with $10,000.
Now, detectives are investigating whether the bandit has made his biggest score yet, at the Four Seasons Hotel on Oscar weekend.
Two-Minute Cover Design
More Dead Novel
RIP: The novel
A book that defends plagiarism, champions faked memoirs and declares fiction dead has the literary world up in arms
iStockphoto/Allkindza
David Shields’ new book, “Reality Hunger: A Manifesto,” is, depending upon whom you ask, a condemnation of the novel, a celebration of the sort of remixing and collage writing that often gets slammed as plagiarism, an indictment of plot, or a defense of memoirists who fabricate. Given his infatuation with playful writing (although a playfulness so earnestly willed seems an oxymoron), Shields shouldn’t be dismayed to learn that tracking responses to “Reality Hunger” across the Web is significantly more stimulating than the book itself. When you throw that many bombs, you can expect to choke on the smoke.
“Today’s changes won’t be noticed by our readers.”
Variety Drops Chief Film and Theater Critics
Updated: Todd McCarthy and David Rooney are cut as the trade moves to trim costs
The evisceration of Variety continues.
On Monday, the trade let go chief film critic Todd McCarthy and chief theater critic David Rooney. Longtime film critic Derek Elley also was cut, as was features editor/indie film reporter Sharon Swart, along with several copy and design desk employees.
In a memo to Variety staff, the trade’s group editor, Tim Gray, said all three critics have been asked to work as freelancers for the moribund trade.
However, McCarthy told TheWrap he has made no such arrangement, at least not yet.
“It’s sad,” McCarthy said. “It’s the end of something. You can say it’s the end, or you can say it’s the end of the way it’s always been done.”
Reaction from the film community was characterized by shock and dismay, with Roger Ebert tweeting, “Variety fires Todd McCarthy and I cancel my subscription. He was my reason to read the paper. RIP, schmucks.”
Still, in his memo, Gray insisted, “Today’s changes won’t be noticed by readers. Our goal is the same: To maintain, or improve, our quality coverage.
The Butcher Of Oz
Richard Phillips @ Haunch Of Venison
“Your History Is Not Our History” Opens at Haunch of Venison
By Elizabeth Thompson
Installing “Your History is Not Our History: New York in the 1980s” at Haunch of Venison gallery felt like Christmas morning for artist Richard Phillips, who organized the show with artist David Salle. “The crates came and it was was like opening present after present after present,” Phillips said at the show’s opening Friday night, as guests including Julian Schnabel, Francesco Clemente, Jeffrey Deitch, Jerry Saltz, Cynthia Rowley, Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, and James Frey, took in Prince’s and Salle’s re-telling of the ’80s art world in New York City, a time period during which they believe artists’ work is often mis-remembered as being oppositional of one another and representative of exclusive critical positions.
Instead, via pieces by Salle, Schnabel, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sherrie Levine, Jeff Koons, and Eric Fischl among other luminaries from the ’80s, “Your History is Not Our History,” highlights the shared attributes of works from the time period, in this case, the sound rejection of authority and a sense of radicalism Phillips said was palpable at gallery shows.
Good Riddance To Print
Former Book Designer Says Good Riddance to Print
By NICK BILTON
craigmod.com
Craig Mod discusses a series of book “interfaces” that could make the transition from print to digital.
A recent blog post by Craig Mod, a self-titled computer programmer, book designer and book publisher, offers a thoughtful and distinctive perspective on the move of books from paper to interactive devices like Apple’s iPad.
Mr. Mod summarizes his argument in the subtitle of his post: “Print is dying. Digital is surging. Everyone is confused. Good riddance.”
Mr. Mod divides content broadly into two categories: content where the form is important, such as poetry or text with graphics, and content where form is divorced from layout, which he says applies to most novels and non-fiction.
This kind of thinking makes a key point: instead of arguing about pixels versus paper, as many book lovers tend to do, it is more useful to focus on whether the technology is a good match for the content.
Guns Don’t Give You Balls
from The San Jose Mercury News
Teen shoots his own testicles
A Vallejo teenager allegedly shot himself in the testicles Thursday afternoon, police said.
Police said the 17-year-old, whose name is being withheld because he’s a minor, walked into Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center at about 5:45 p.m. with a gunshot wound.
The gun is still outstanding, police said, and the teen has not been cooperative.
Four Jars of Preserves and Mostly Friendly Pets
Book tour? More like a safari
With publisher publicity departments backing away from traditional author tours, writers are left to their own devices (and strangers’ couches).
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Book tour (J.T. Steiny / For The Times) |
They didn’t have much choice. As the business of publishing changes, book tours increasingly look like bad risks. “In 99.9% of cases,” says Peter Miller, director of publicity at Bloomsbury USA, “you can’t justify the costs through regular book sales.”
Which is why when McSweeney’s published Cotter’s first novel, “Fever Chart,” and La Ganga’s prose poetry memoir, “Stoners and Self-Appointed Saints,” came out with Red Hen Press, neither publisher was able to provide more than moral support.
La Ganga, 41, a cake decorator, and Cotter, 45, a rare book dealer, relied on many kindnesses: Relatives bought them new tires, and friends gave them Starbucks and McDonald’s gift cards. They spent only one night in a motel, staying instead with family and friends and in the crash pads they found on couchsurfing.com. The benefits: shared meals, new connections and (mostly) friendly pets.
Pink Panther Strikes Best Buy In New Jersey
Acrobatic thieves hit N.J. Best Buy avoiding cameras, motion sensors, alarms in daring heist
By Ryan Hutchins/For The Star-Ledger
March 04, 2010, 4:42PM
SOUTH BRUNSWICK — They never touched the floor — that would have set off an alarm.
They didn’t appear on store security cameras. They cut a hole in the roof and came in at a spot where the cameras were obscured by advertising banners.
And they left with some $26,000 in laptop computers, departing the same way they came in — down a 3-inch gas pipe that runs from the roof to the ground outside the store.
Police believe that’s how some brazen bandits managed to swipe 20 Apple notebooks early this morning at a Best Buy on Route 1 in South Brunswick without detection.
“High level of sophistication,” said Detective James Ryan, a police department spokesman. “They never set off any motion sensors. They never touched the floor. They rappelled in and rappelled out.”
Gursky @ Gagosian
Andreas Gursky makes a long-distance connection
The German artist’s large-scale satellite images make up ‘Oceans’ in the newly expanded Gagosian Gallery.
Andreas Gursky, above, is “original and innovative,” gallery owner Larry Gagosian says. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
And if you think Larry Gagosian’s elegant Beverly Hills gallery is a showcase with relatively little floor space, you’d better look again.
The German artist is inaugurating a major enlargement of the gallery with “Oceans,” a new body of work based on satellite images. In his exhibition that opened Thursday night with an invitational preview, six photographs of deep blue water fringed by continents and dotted with islands hang in the new 3,030-square-foot space. Nine earlier works fill the original main gallery and a smaller room upstairs.
“Andreas Gursky is a new relationship for our gallery,” Gagosian says. “He’s one of the most original and innovative living artists, and the timing seemed right with the expansion of our gallery in Beverly Hills.”
Godzilla Haiku
**** Disguisable weapons wanted ****
courtesy of E-MAILS FROM AN ASSHOLE
From Me to **********@***********.org:
Hey,
I saw your ad looking for concealable/disguised weapons. I have several fine-crafted items you may be interested in. Respond if you are interested and I will send you pictures and prices.
Thanks,
Mike
From Jeff ****** to Me:
I am. lets see what you got.
From Me to Jeff ******:
Jeff,
Here you go:
Looks like a normal spoon, right?
Wrong. It is actually a deadly 2.5″ half-smooth, half-serrated knife with tactical grip. One minute you are enjoying a bowl of cereal, and the next you are fighting off attackers with this deadly and disguised weapon.
I am asking $50 for the blade. Let me know if you want to stop by and take a look at it.
Mike
From Jeff ****** to Me:
that is stupid as hell and looks like crap. unless you have anything better to offer, dont waste my time.
From Me to Jeff ******:
Jeff,
I am sorry you feel that way about the spoon blade. I do have some other weapons that I think you will feel differently about.
Mike
From Jeff ****** to Me:
fine. but if it is another knife duct taped to a spoon then you can fuck off.
From Me to Jeff ******:
Jeff,
Thank you for re-considering. Here are three quality disguised weapons that I think you will love:
At first glance, this looks like a normal party cup. However, if you look close enough, you will see that it is really a fully automatic Glock 18C. You will be able to pour your enemies a nice warm cup of lead with this fine purchase. Asking $900 for the gun/cup combo.
Still thirsty for justice? Try this badass M16A2 disguised as a 24-pack of soda. The box has two finely crafted holes on each side to allow for any kind of optics (not included) that you wish to attach. This weapon is only for sale if you have a Class III permit.
This cleverly disguised weapon may look like a tissue box, but is actually a Benelli M3 12 gauge shotgun disguised as a tissue box. The ultra-soft quilted tissues serve as a comfortable grip on the pump-action shotgun. Also, if you find yourself sneezing during the heat of combat, you will have a handy tissue box ready for action. Asking $1500 for the weapon. Additional tissue boxes are an extra $5 per box.
Let me know if you want any of these items.
Thanks,
Mike
From Jeff ****** to Me:
youre a fucking dumbass, shitbrained, asswipe, retarded dipshit. you prob walk around with that shit too you dumb mother fucker. I hope you get hit by a car. fuck off, eat shit, and die.
Waffle Sandwich With Cheese – Only In America
Banksy v. Robbo
A Game of Tag Breaks Out Between London’s Graffiti Elite
Slight Brings Robbo Out of Retirement; Cobbler Won’t Let Rival Tread on Him
LONDON—In the predawn hours of Christmas morning, a 40-year-old shoe repairman who goes by the name Robbo squeezed his 6-foot-8-inch frame into a wet suit, tossed some spray cans into a plastic bag, and crossed Regent’s Canal on a red-and-blue air mattress.
Robbo, one of the lost pioneers of London’s 1980s graffiti scene, was emerging from a long retirement. He had a mission: to settle a score with the world-famous street artist Banksy, who, Robbo believes, had attacked his legacy.
The battle centers on a wall under a bridge on the canal in London’s Camden district. In the fall of 1985—just 15 years old but already a major player in London’s graffiti scene—Robbo announced his presence on that wall with eight tall block letters: ROBBO INC.
The work, written in orange, red and black on a yellow background, had been in good shape for nearly 25 years and was considered a local icon, surviving long after Robbo himself vanished from the scene 16 years ago.
But recently, Robbo’s work was dramatically altered by an unlikely rival: Banksy, the stealthy Bristol-born artist who has made a lucrative art of graffiti. The work of Banksy—who, like Robbo, doesn’t disclose his name—sells for big money and is widely merchandised. His first film, “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January and is due out in U.K. theaters this month.
In early December, Banksy did a series of four pieces along the Regent’s Canal’s walls. Inexplicably, one of them incorporated Robbo’s piece into Banksy’s own work, painting over half the Robbo original in the process. The resulting work, in Banksy’s typical stencil technique, shows a black-and-white workman applying colorful wallpaper that is, in essence, the remnants of Robbo’s piece.
“It’s all fun and games until the 150 year old white man beats your anus in front of everyone on the bus.”
It’s called YouPorn, USA Today. YouPorn.com
Free porn on ‘tube sites’ puts dent in industry
by Jon Swartz – Mar. 2, 2010 08:45 AM
USA Today
SAN FRANCISCO — The adult-entertainment industry is in a tailspin, shattering the notion that it is one of the few recession-proof industries.
The slump is especially stinging because technology — which helped adult-entertainment enterprises reap riches through innovations such as video streaming, webcameras and online payments — is contributing to the misery.
DVDs and online pay sites, which make up the majority of porn-related sales, are in a free fall largely because of the rise of so-called tube sites.
Knockoffs of video-sharing site YouTube, the sites serve up snippets of free porn that is often pirated. (Google’s YouTube has done its best to bar explicit content.)
Ex-Governor of New Jersey Now Dancing With The Chippendales
Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!
Another Pet Bull Attack
Pet bull attacks, kills his owner in eastern Pa.
WERNERSVILLE, Pa. — Authorities say an eastern Pennsylvania man was killed when he was attacked by a bull he kept as a pet.
The Berks County coroner’s office says 52-year-old Ricky Weinhold died Saturday after being attacked by the bull on a farm where he leased barn space in Wernersville. That’s about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
Chief Deputy Coroner Charles E. Sweitzer Jr. says Weinhold’s injuries appear to have been inflicted by a bull’s head and hooves.
Deputy Coroner Terri Straka says the man was injured previously by one of his bulls.
Cheeky Blakk Doing It Again
GoGo Yubari Goes Pop Princess
Kill Bill’s Schoolgirl Assassin Launches Singing Career
By Liz Ohanesian
Japanese Actress Chiaki Kuriyama, perhaps best known to the U.S. audience as killer schoolgirl Gogo Yubari in Kill Bill, is preparing to launch a new career as a pop singer. She will make her debut in Japan next week, word on upcoming releases in the States is still pending.
Kuriyama’s first single, “Ryusei No Namida” will be the theme song for the forthcoming anime Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. As fans of the genre know, an anime theme credit can bolster an artist’s reputation both in Japan and throughout the international community. Add that to the wild popularity of the Gundam franchise and it seems like Kuriyama, who also appeared in the cult hit Battle Royale, has made a wise career move.
New York Times Applauds Depression
Depression’s Upside
Ben Weeks
By JONAH LEHRER
The Victorians had many names for depression, and Charles Darwin used them all. There were his “fits” brought on by “excitements,” “flurries” leading to an “uncomfortable palpitation of the heart” and “air fatigues” that triggered his “head symptoms.” In one particularly pitiful letter, written to a specialist in “psychological medicine,” he confessed to “extreme spasmodic daily and nightly flatulence” and “hysterical crying” whenever Emma, his devoted wife, left him alone.
For Darwin, depression was a clarifying force, focusing the mind on its most essential problems. In his autobiography, he speculated on the purpose of such misery; his evolutionary theory was shadowed by his own life story. “Pain or suffering of any kind,” he wrote, “if long continued, causes depression and lessens the power of action, yet it is well adapted to make a creature guard itself against any great or sudden evil.” And so sorrow was explained away, because pleasure was not enough. Sometimes, Darwin wrote, it is the sadness that informs as it “leads an animal to pursue that course of action which is most beneficial.” The darkness was a kind of light.