It's a great parallel. Andy Warhol's screen test were similar to today's Chatroulette. MoMA is asking for you to create your own screen test in the Warhol style and provides instructions to do so. In conjunction with their latest exhibition of the Warhol films, they're posting them on their site in a very familiar way. Check it out.
Gloria Shuri Nava is a YouTube star, so don't think we're hating, as this girl can carry. A theme of hers is providing surreal makeup tips. This time around it's creating the full-on Black Swan look, appropriating not just the look, but the utter Natalie Portman perfection.
Q: What 1965 film was Canada's first film (ever) screened at the Cannes Film Festival, preceded Stonewall by four years and took its title from T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land"?
A: After the jump...
Continue reading "A cinematic riddle of the homosexual persuasion." »
Just when you think there's going to be a Thanksgiving episode, the crafty Chloe throws us a curveball about film. What concerns though is that it was posted on a Friday evening. Nothing goes viral on a Friday evening. You have to put up posts when the people are dying for entertainment (also known as between nine and five, weekdays). Why, you might as well put up a post on a Sunday morning, friend. Video after the jump.
The Times sat down with the film's director to talk about 1985 New York and the filming of Desperately Seeking Susan. While Madonna was cast as Susan, she wasn't the only person up for the role. Can you imagine Susan as portrayed by Jennifer Jason Leigh, Melanie Griffith, or (personal favorite) Ellen Barkin?
The Social Network is a stupid dramatically inert movie about people you can't help disliking, framed in a flashback device that prevents you from getting anywhere new at the end. All these losers fighting over who stole an idea that they stole from Friendster to begin with. Boo.
Adam Baran is a writer and film-maker living in Williamsburg.
During every major seasonal shift in New York, fives of sixes city dwellers suffer from some strain of cold that is comparable to (and may even possibly be) dengue fever, swinefluenza, or any other pandemic that has, at one point in time, threatened to wipe out civilization (consequently jeopardizing the need for drawn out progress reports like these!) Why just this week, I paced around my apartment fighting off chilled sweats! Two nights ago, I fever-dreamt that acclaimed Ghost World/Boardwalk Empire actor Steve Buscemi was holding St. Marks Bookshop hostage at knifepoint, but that I managed to break away from the imminent hostage situation because I was so crafty. Only, I returned for no apparent reason and then found a three bedroom apartment nestled in the back of the bookstore, with someone emerging from it, unaware that Steve Buscemi had just abducted the entirety of the bookstore at knifepoint. I suppose what I'm trying to say, dear readers, is load up on Vitamin C and if you sneeze, do not sneeze on your friend's eye! I suppose another thing I'm trying to say is that this week, our society dreamt big, readers! But as usual, the fruits of their labors were ultimately no bigger than pine nuts.
• ELLEVATED CONSCIOUSNESS Have fans of Gabourey Sidibe taken a moment to stop crowing about the hundred odd things they dislike about the star's Elle cover to embrace the many things that they do like about it? [EW]
• Several Chinese villagers have thought of a winning survival tactic in the face of a wild boar overpopulation problem: Vuvuzelas and karaoke! [Treehugger]
• This week, Queerty devoted all of its journalistic resources to the pressing issue of big box retailer Target's exclusive record distribution contract with Taylor Swift. [Queerty]
Who knew The Muppets Take Manhattan would become a cult classic? Back in the day, certainly not, but now, looking at eighties New York evokes "feelings". (I despise "nostalgia" and refuse to accept even an inkling thereof. .... sniff.) Anyway, the film will be shown outside tonight at Elevated Acre, an unexpected park 54 floors up in the sky at 55 Water Street at 8 pm. Should be a beautiful night for it!
Original trailer after the jump. Via Time Out
Continue reading "Tonight - "The Muppets Take Manhattan" outdoor cinema" »
At last night's screening of Sleepaway Camp, there was a lot of Buzz in the air. Actually, it was a guy named Buzz who runs CampBlood, a horror movie resource site with a homosexual leaning. With perhaps the most comprehensive list of homo-horror ever, the site is a great resource as Halloween comes up. (And they have a blog!)
Also in attendance? Unkle Spooky (aka Paul Short) and FYF friend Michael T, who regularly hosts horror films all around town (more on this later). Listening to all the horror fans, once home my NetFlix suddenly has lots of Dario Argento and the (perhaps predestined) True Blood.
On a recent post-brunch Sunday, a few of us were in the living room just chatting when we were called into the bedroom for a must-see scene. Skeptical at first, we all found a space on the bed and watched a scene from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the 1953 film starring Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. In this scene, Russell is frustrated by the "Olympic team" as they are so wrapped up in their exercise that they pay her no attention. Expressing her frustration through song, she is soon surrounded by men in flesh-colored bathing suits doing some of the most scissory kicks ever put on a screeen. Video after the jump.
Continue reading ""Ain't There Anyone Here for Love?", Jane Russell, 1953" »
Others agree, but maybe we're all just being nostalgic?
RG: WELL HELLO, KYLE. HOW ARE YOU?
KA: Greasy, but ultimately palatable. Yourself?
RG: Uhh. I had a dream last night where Tori Amos was singing Dresden Dolls covers. What do you suppose that means?
KA: Well. Like many Tori fans, you want to stay in a committed relationship, but you yearn for a harder edge. Amanda Palmer fills that void. I mean, I know how often I sing "The Power of Orange Knickers."
RG: As often as I sing her ten-minute live version of "Crucify"?
KA: The last time I heard that version, my friend and I drooled on the fans below our balcony seats--but because of sleep, not dumbstruck awe.
RG: Do you know what's terrible? I think that accurately describes my reaction to how insanely people are dealing with the the sudden Prop. 8 repeal. Like, they're overanalyzing it...like the concept of same-sex marriage is so utterly mindboggling.
KA: I don't understand why I'm being congratulated.
Continue reading "Civilization Progress Report: All men are made of vegetables." »
Okay, so the roofdeck of the Eagle during the Sunday Beer Blast isn't usually the place to have a conversation about suicide, but suddenly "boom" there it was. It was brief, to be sure, and followed by, "Do you think that guy checked his pants or came here like that?" Still, the conversation came up, as do the thoughts of ending my life, sometimes.
Don't take this as a call for help. It's more a contemplation than a concentration. For a lot of reasons, there won't be me hanging from a rope (clumsy) or overdosing (too obvious) or slicing my wrists (ew, blood!) or jumping from anything (acrophobia). One that often comes to mind is that I'd never put Mom through that. And the fact that she would want to bury my fomaldahyde-filled corpse bothers my environmental conscience to no end. I prefer cremation, thank you, but hey, she made this body, so whatever she says goes.
Suicide just keeps coming up, though. Let's take a musical break and discuss this more after the jump.
