HEY, DRAG RACE FANS! It’s RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 2, and John Polly is back with his RUcaps of every episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, on Extra Lap Recap! This week John recaps the sixth episode of All Stars 2, “Drag Fish Tank.”
SPOILER ALERT: The eliminated queen will be revealed, so don’t view the recap if you haven’t watched the full episode!
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Did you watch Excess Baggage in the 90’s and wish you were Alicia Silverstone? How about The Game? Well a new LA attraction The Tension Experience will do just that (and like, MUCH worst, horrible things) to you. This is how it would go down: 1) Drive to a dark alleyway where you get blindfolded, kidnapped, and stuffed in a creeper van. 2) You’re dropped into a pitch black labyrinthine warehouse where you’re forced to eat flesh (?), whipped (??), and left in a chair by yourself for a long period of time (???) while ambient music plays (????).
Sounds fun? Check it out:
The show, which styles itself as a “site specific journey of trust, betrayal and submission,” is the brainchild of Darren Bousman, director of the second through fourth entires in the Sawseries.
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The queen of “coming back, looking delicious” Britney Jean Spears has been overseas wearing cute AF dresses, hats, and sunglass combos as she does press for “Glory.” When she’s not being interviewed by Kiss FM, eating micro tacos with her dancers, or looking amazing, she’s scamming on London men (just like any of us would!) She took to her Instagram to express her feelings.
Check it out:
With a British accent, I give you:
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The current run of Andrew Lloyd Weber‘s (questionably) iconic musical Cats is getting a jolt of additional star power in the form of one very REAL cat– Grumpy Cat!
Write ET:
Grumpy Cat will be the first actual cat to join the cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical — although the show is about cats, it traditionally has an all-human cast, meaning the addition of a genuine cat will certainly make for an interesting show.
The new cast member gave a very appropriate statement about the news: “Being selected as the first real cat to perform in Cats on Broadway is an honor. I hate it,” she said. “If I’m really being honest, I’d prefer to play the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera.”
The taciturn tabby will make her debut on Sept. 30. No further information about her role in the show has been announced.
And no word yet if leading lady Leona Lewis feels Grumpy Cat is Nomi Maloning her.
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Angelina Jolie is reportedly “very pleased” with the temporary divorce agreement that she and estranged hubby Brad Pitt have hammered out, in which she gets full custody of the kids and Brad can only visit the kids with a therapist present. Ouch.
According to TMZ, the LA County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) recommended that the couple either strike a deal or take their grievances to court in what would surely be a publicity circus.
Here are the terms of the temporary agreement:
— Angelina gets temporary physical custody of the 6 kids until Oct 20th.
— Brad gets visitation, with strings attached. The initial visit is with a therapist present and the therapist then has the power to either allow Brad subsequent unmonitored visits or insist on being present whenever he’s around the kids.
— Brad is subject to random drug/alcohol testing. As we reported, Angelina believes Brad has issues with alcohol and weed. Our law enforcement sources say Brad’s first test was negative for drugs and alcohol.
— Brad and Angelina will each submit to individual counseling. In addition, Brad, Angelina and the kids will undergo family counseling together.
We’re told Angelina agreed with recommendation because her focus is to “heal” her family and her children.
We’re told the agreement will only last for another 3 weeks. At that point DCFS could impose new ground rules or possibly turn the matter over to the courts.
(via HuffPo)
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Sister Roma and Sister Bearonce Knows from the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence compete for cash on an all-new episode of Bestie$ For Ca$h! How well do they know each other? Watch and find out!
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Former Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe was slumbering, nude, in his San Francisco home, when he heard a buzzing sound. At first, he thought it was a gigantic bumble bee, but, no, when he opened his curtains he was shocked to see a drone buzzing in the air just feet away from his window — with its camera pointed straight at him.
Writing on Facebook he says:
I had no words for the outrage I felt at such an intrusion. I was incensed, and as Freddy (my dog) egged me on with a chorus of snarls and barks, I moved onto my second instinct – an irresistible urge to blow the contraption out of the sky.
He grabbed his 12-gauge shotgun from under his bed and ran down to his deck, still naked as the day he was born.
“I pumped a shell into the chamber, enjoying the ‘crunch-crunch’ sound that makes shotguns worth owning,” he said. “I had a clear shot — nothing but blue sky above — and more than enough umbrage to justify the destruction I was about to unleash.”
Ultimately, though, he didn’t shoot.
I’d like to tell you I stopped because I realized that discharging my weapon in such a fashion would be frowned on by the local constabulary. But really, what stopped me was the realization that somewhere nearby, a drone operator was staring at his monitor, pondering the image of a very naked guy with a very familiar face, pointing a shotgun into the lens of his Go Pro and looking every bit as crazy as Gary Busey and Nick Nolte at the nadir of their careers. I froze, because I could see the video that might very well appear on the local news, (with considerable blurring, naturally.) The same video that might soon appear on my mother’s computer screen, along with the headline – “Dirty Jobs Guy Totally Loses It – Gets Naked and Shoots Drone From San Francisco Skies.”
On the one hand, you gotta feel sorry for the guy. Overly invasive drones are becoming a serious problem for the celebrity community. On the other hand…. I kind of want to see the footage….
Leave Me Adrone!
Early this morning, deep in the middle of some sort of strange gardening dream, I was awakened by the sound of a giant bumble bee, hovering a few inches from my ear. As I slowly entered a more conscious state, I realized the sound was not coming from a bee in a dream, nor for that matter, a bee in reality. It was coming from something much larger, just outside my bedroom window. Dressed in my favorite pair of non-existent pajamas, I leapt from my bed and pulled the drapes aside. There, not three feet in front of me, was a camera, dangling from the underside of a drone. The red light was on, and the camera was rolling.
I was slow to react, partly because I was still waking up, and partly because my first instinct when confronted with a camera is to say something pithy. I can’t help it. I’ve been saying pithy things to cameras for the last thirty years, and old habits die hard. Well this morning, I had no words for the outrage I felt at such an intrusion. I was incensed, and as Freddy egged me on with a chorus of snarls and barks, I moved onto my second instinct – an irresistible urge to blow the contraption out of the sky.
Seconds later I’d pulled the Mossburg 12-guage from under my bed and grabbed the cellphone from the bedside table. In no time, I was out on the deck downstairs, about fifteen feet below the electronic Peeping Tom. The drone had moved even closer to my window. I could see the camera panning left to right, and I could hear my dog unleashing a level of indignation usually reserved for raccoons and feral cats. Somewhere, in the logical part of my brain, it occurred to me that nothing good can come from an angry B-list celebrity standing on his deck with no clothes and a loaded shotgun, but I was not really in touch at that moment with the logical part of my brain. I was focused only on the joy that would follow the roar of the Mossburg, and the satisfying sprinkle of cheap plastic that would rain down upon my deck in the aftermath.
I pumped a shell into the chamber, enjoying the “crunch-crunch” sound that makes shotguns worth owning. I had a clear shot – nothing but blue sky above – and more than enough umbrage to justify the destruction I was about to unleash. But then, as I was literally squeezing the trigger, I saw the camera tilt down. It was pointed directly at me, and in that moment – I froze.
I’d like to tell you I stopped because I realized that discharging my weapon in such a fashion would be frowned on by the local constabulary. But really, what stopped me was the realization that somewhere nearby, a drone operator was staring at his monitor, pondering the image of a very naked guy with a very familiar face, pointing a shotgun into the lens of his Go Pro and looking every bit as crazy as Gary Busey and Nick Nolte at the nadir of their careers. I froze, because I could see the video that might very well appear on the local news, (with considerable blurring, naturally.) The same video that might soon appear on my mother’s computer screen, along with the headline – “Dirty Jobs Guy Totally Loses It – Gets Naked and Shoots Drone From San Francisco Skies.”
When the moment passed I put the shotgun down and reached for my phone instead, just as the wicked contrivance bugged out for the Wild Blue Yonder. The attached photo is all I have in the way of proof, and I hope to God that’s all the proof you’ll ever see. Because honestly, I have no idea who is in possession of the footage I’ve just described. Nor do I have any idea if it will appear in your news feeds later this week. I sincerely hope not, but I know it’s out there, and there isn’t much I can do about it but make sure – if the unthinkable occurs – that you can all say you heard it here first…
Mike
The post “Leave Me Adrone”: Naked Mike Rowe (of “Dirty Jobs”) Chases Snooping Drone Away appeared first on The WOW Report.
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter took a minute out of her busy Formation World Tour to share some sister love on her Instagram (she still follows zero people) for younger sibling Solange for her new album “A Seat At The Table.”
Check it out:
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Uber-iconic local legend Suzan Strauss, also known as LA’s “Lava Lady,” passed away on September 1st of heart disease in Florida. She was 86.
Although she left LA over a decade ago to start a new life in Florida (where she was locally known as The Wellington Witch), Angelenos still fondly recall the enigmatic figure in black who walked Melrose Avenue in 18-inch platforms, striking burlap and brocade gowns (which she made), with her jet black hair slicked back and styled in an antennae-like pony tail, sticking straight up. She lived on a compound of two famous black-lava-covered houses on Detroit Street (hence her nickname “Lava Lady”). On her front lawn was a green astro turf catwalk, which she would walk up and down on a regular basis, entertaining passers-by. The inside of the houses, which used no electricity, only candles, were covered with natural color flint rock. And all the furniture was blue plastic kiddie furniture. Fabulous.
Details of her private life are scant, but legend has it she was an heiress to the Levi-Strauss fortune… that she once had a black panther (but neighbors complained, and the city made her remove it)… and that she only ate baby food and non- cooked foods.
Brilliant. I hope it’s all true.
Lina Lecaro over at LA Weekly has written a wonderful article, remembering the day she interviewed her (almost 20 years ago).
And more remembrances from Rick Castro at Antebellum (who took many of the pictures here).
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October 1, 1928– Laurence Harvey
He was born Zvi Mosheh Hirsh Skikne in Joniškis, Lithuania. Thin, dry, Laurence Harvey was one of film history’s strangest success stories. He was never a major star, or even the subject of some sort of a cult following. His films were rarely hits and those that were seemed to achieve their popularity in spite of him. A cold, remote actor, he proved highly unsuited to the majority of the roles which came his way and his performances were often the subject of unanimous critical dismissal, even his fellow actors derided his abilities. Yet, Harvey had a career much longer and more prolific than many of his contemporaries.
His resumé includes one important classic. There are many milestone films that I have not gotten around to seeing. I have never caught Casablanca (1942) or Lawrence Of Arabia (1962). I have only watched To Kill A Mockingbird (1962), The Women (1939) or Double Indemnity (1944) in the past half-decade (all three are now favorites). I don’t know why I get embarrassed, but as a film fan who has taken Film History and Film Theory classes, I had not seen one of the best election themed films of all-time, the original The Manchurian Candidate (1962), starring Harvey in his best role, until spring of 2014 while I was enjoying a little chemotherapy, but somehow I had managed to fit in Drive (2011), Crazy, Stupid Love (2011) and Blue Valentine because Ryan Gosling appeared in them shirtless, plus I seemed to have caught all four films in the Scream series (1996-2011). Oh well, who needs the classics?
In his late teens, Harvey became involved with actor Hermione Baddeley, who was twice his age. He was married three times, in 1957 to actor Margaret Leighton, a woman of style, but old enough to be his mother, to Joan Perry Cohn in 1968, the very rich widow of movie mogul Harry Cohn of Columbia Pictures, and lastly, to Paulene Stone. Harvey had met Stone on the set of A Dandy In Aspic (1968) while he was still married to Cohn. He became a father for the first time when Stone gave birth to their daughter in 1969. Harvey divorced Cohn to marry Stone in 1972. Got that?
But shockingly, Harvey was actually bisexual. Very bisexual, it turns out. Franks Sinatra‘s assistant, George Jacobs, author of Mr. S: My Life With Frank Sinatra (2001), recounts that Harvey often made passes at him while visiting Sinatra. According to Jacobs, Sinatra, who starred with Harvey in The Manchurian Candidate, was aware of Harvey’s bisexuality and he did not care. Sinatra joked:
“He has the three handicaps of being a homo, a Jew, and a Polack, so people should go easy on him.”
In his memoir Close Up: An Actor Telling Tales (2006), British actor John Frasier writes that Harvey was not really bi, but full time gay, and that his longtime lover was his manager James Wolfe who had “discovered” Harvey in the 1950s.
Dame Judi Dench worked with Harvey in William Shakespeare’s Henry V at The Old Vic in 1959. In her terrific memoir And Furthermore (2010), Dench tells of feeling flummoxed at how Harvey would never actually look at her during his speeches. Actor Joss Ackland who appeared with Dench and Harvey in Twelfth Night wrote:
“Americans seemed to think Harvey was some sort of great actor, which his colleagues certainly did not.”
In his autobiography Knight Errant (1995), actor Robert Stephens described Harvey:
“He was an appalling man and even more unforgivably, an appalling actor.”
Harvey was regularly dismissed by critics also. He was often accused of being unprofessional, with cast and crew commenting on his chronic tardiness on the set.
Amazing really, Harvey received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for playing a conniving, ruthless, heartless social-climber (hardly a stretch) in Room At The Top (1959) with Simone Signoret and former beard Hermione Baddeley.
Darling (1965) was one of the first films to depict sympathetic gay characters, but on the set, the closets must have been full. Besides Harvey, the cast included the deeply closeted Dirk Bogarde, with both actors enjoying affairs with the director John Schlesinger, who was also having sex with cast member Roland Curram.
Harvey played a de-gayed Christopher Isherwood in the film version of I Am A Camera (1955), which was later reimagined as the stage and screen musical Cabaret.
He must have had something because Elizabeth Taylor had a thing for him while they were filming Butterfield 8 (1960). But, she also had significant crushes on Rock Hudson and Montgomery Clift and we know how those turned out. Most of Harvey’s leading ladies are on record as saying they hated him, including: Shirley MacLaine, Barbara Stanwyck and Kim Novak. Oddly, the two actors that had good things to say about Harvey were Sinatra and John Wayne, who personally chose him to star in The Alamo (1960).
Harvey’s screen presence seemed to simply ooze arrogance, conceit and snobbery, although he also came across as suave and sophisticated too. Harvey’s career brings an important lesson for all aspiring actors: It is entirely possible to have real success without managing to gain much audience interest or sympathy, and despite critical antipathy and overwhelming public apathy. Remember that, kids.
In 1963, Harvey built a famed modernistic 9200 sq. ft. house in Beverly Hills that was later the home of gay Broadway songwriter Jerry Herman who sold it to openly gay Max Mutchnick, the co-creator of Will & Grace. The house was next owned by Ellen Degeneres who sold it to Ryan Seacrest. Make of that what you will.
Harvey took a final bow in 1973, taken by liver cancer at just 45 years old after decades of heavy drinking. Domino Harvey was his openly gay, disarmingly beautiful daughter, who became a Beverly Hills socialite before launching a career as a model in NYC. She eventually became most famous as a professional bounty hunter. For realz. She died at an early age from a drug overdose. They are together in The Santa Barbara Cemetery.
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Well, not exactly. The ‘most hated man in America’ has given a Florida woman the right to ‘repeatedly’ punch the infamous “Pharma bro” Martin Shkreli in the face. Shkreli announced the woman, named Katie, won the bidding after agreeing to donate $50,000 his late friend’s family.
“Katie will be permitted to “repeatedly pummel me in the face. Bidding is over. Congrats to her and the Kulichs!”
Shkreli has said he will match the bid, after launching the auction earlier this week in order to raise money for the family of his friend Mike Kulich, who passed away recently.
The Turing Pharmaceuticals founder came under fire last year after buying the rights to 62-year-old drug Daraprim – which is used to treat conditions including AIDS-related toxoplasmosis – and jacking up the price to $750 a pill.
The 5500% price rise sparked outrage, but Shkreli refused to back down. He was later removed as the company’s CEO after he was arrested over unrelated fraud allegations.
See, even awful people can do good things. Let’ hope Katie makes a video to spread the joy around.
(via Pink News)
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Long before selfies, when the instant Polaroid was the Instagram of its day, fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez and his collaborator, Juan Ramos, had an idea for an exhibit:
Throw a party, take pictures of your friends, and post them on the wall.
The images that remain from A Photo Cocktail Party, presented by my old pal, artist Neke Carson and hosted by Robert Freidus Gallery, attest to the event’s fun.
Paul Caranicas — Ramos’s partner of many years, who was at the event and now directs the shared estate of Lopez and Ramos — describes the scene.
“The Photo Cocktail Party was an extension of their lifestyle. In recreating the photo cocktail party, we’re celebrating that aspect of their practice.”
Today’s events are nothing BUT one endless Photo Cocktail Party. The El Museo del Barrio exhibition, Antonio Lopez: Future Funk Fashion, runs through November 26
Antonio & party guest
Betsy Johnson, Chantal and Ed Hayes
Nancy Lucas, Olive Watson & friend
Guest & Willie Rodriguez
May Alexander & Corey Tippin
(via Blouin ArtInfo)
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Yes, one of the world’s biggest bottled water brands, Aquafina, has admitted that its bottled water comes from the exact same source as the water from your kitchen tap.
PepsiCo, which owns Aquafina, was forced by an advocacy group, Corporate Accountability International, to change their misleading label and make it clear to the customers that the water in the plastic bottles is nothing more than filtered tap water.
PepsiCo spokeswoman Michelle Naughtron called this decision a “reasonable thing to do” if it helped consumers better understand the fact that the water comes from public sources. While the label reads “purified drinking water” in plain sight, somewhere in tiny letters they added the P.W.S. (Public Water Source) to the label.
Does this really help people understand that they are paying a premium price for the same water that flows out of their kitchen tap? Not really.
According to Natural News,
“By including a picture of mountains and the term purified water on the label, consumers are led to believe that Aquafina originates from a natural mountain spring which is then filtered and bottled.
As stated by the Beverage Marketing Association, nearly 50 percent of all bottled water sold in the U.S. is tap water. Nonetheless, people unknowingly keep paying a premium price for the same water that comes out of their tap.
“The [bottled water] industry grossed a total of $11.8 billion on those 9.7 billion gallons in 2012, making bottled water about $1.22/gallon nationwide and 300x the cost of a gallon of tap water,” ConvergEx Group Chief Market Strategist Nick Colas explained.
“If we take into account the fact that almost 2/3 of all bottled water sales are single 16.9oz (500 mL) bottles, though, this cost is much, much higher: about $7.50 per gallon, according to the American Water Works Association. That’s almost 2,000x the cost of a gallon of tap water and twice the cost of a gallon of regular gasoline.”
I’ll admit that if you don’t think about it, you can assume that bottled was is always better. I have a house in upstate New York and for the first year or I bought bottled water to drink and put in my guest rooms. Except that after I really thought about it, I realized my tap water came from a well on my property. A spring-fed well, that has water that comes out at a cool 55 degrees and tastes like Evian. Duh. I now bottle it myself and take it back to NYC to drink.
(via Natural News)
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Gay boxer Orlando Cruz has vowed to make history by becoming the first gay boxing world champion.
Cruz just announced his intentions ahead of his match against Luis Sanchez next week. If he wins the match against Sanchez he will move proceed to have a match against the current featherweight champion, Miguel Berchelt.
Cruz made history as the first openly gay professional fighter in boxing by coming out in 2012. He married his long term boyfriend José Manuel in 2013. He’s been a advocate for the LGBT community and recently won a fight that he dedicated to the Orlando massacre victims. At the weigh-in, he wore rainbow-coloured briefs (pictured) and stood in silence as a bell tolled 49 times—once for each life lost.
Cruz made the announcement in El Voerco,
“We are working hard for this fight and hope to do well. We are facing Berchelt in January or February for the interim world title. But I have an excellent team and we have no hurry to get to that point. We are at the time of assimilating weight and going step by step.
At 35-years-old – I feel great. I know my opponent will come to fight, but I am prepared and ready for victory and then to be crowned world champion. I’m focused on becoming the only gay world champion in boxing history.“
Cruz previously spoke about being a role model for anyone who wants to take up boxing as a professional career. “I want to try to be the best role model I can be for kids who might look into boxing as a sport.”
(via Pink News)
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SpaceX founder Elon Musk just outlined an ambitious vision for manned missions to Mars, which he said could begin as soon as 2022. He told an audience in his keynote speech at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico this week,
“What I really want to try to achieve here is to make Mars seem possible – like it’s something we can achieve in our lifetimes. He said there were “two fundamental paths” facing humanity today. “One is that we stay on Earth forever and then there will be an inevitable extinction event. The alternative is to become a spacefaring civilization, and a multi-planetary species.”
To achieve his goal, Musk outlined a multi-stage launch and transport system. The booster, and the “interplanetary module” on top of it, would be nearly as long as two Boeing 747 aircraft. It could carry up to 100 passengers.
Musk said the first ship to go to Mars would be named Heart of Gold as a tribute to the ship powered by an “infinite improbability drive” from Douglas Adams’ science fiction novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Musk estimated the current cost of sending someone to Mars at ‘around $10 billion per person. He also outlined a system by which fuel could be synthesized on Mars from water and carbon dioxide in order to fuel return journeys to Earth. He also said that there would be price improvements over time because of the reusability of the spacecraft, in-orbit refuelling and on-Mars propellant production that would reduce that cost by “orders of magnitude”.
Asked at the talk about funding, Musk said,
“The reason I am personally accruing assets is to fund this. I really have no other purpose than to make life interplanetary.”
Bill Nye, chief executive officer of the Planetary Society and host of the popular TV show Bill Nye the Science Guy, was in the audience and described the energy of the crowd as “extraordinary”. He told the Guardian,
“Watching the crowd go absolutely wild today tells me that the best is yet ahead for space exploration.
No matter what we send to Mars, I very much hope we conduct a thorough, careful search for life before we consider landing people and cargo. I believe the discovery of life or evidence of life would change the way we think about the cosmos and our place within it.“
NASA said in a statement that it welcomed Musk’s plans,
“NASA applauds all those who want to take the next giant leap – and advance the journey to Mars. We are very pleased that the global community is working to meet the challenges of a sustainable human presence on Mars. This journey will require the best and the brightest minds from government and industry, and the fact that Mars is a major topic of discussion is very encouraging.”
The video is a hour long. Here are its contents,
00:00. Why Mars and become a multi-planetary civilization
05:55. Early exploration missions
09:15. Challenge 1: Full re-usability
11:17. Challenge 2: Refilling in orbit
12:31. Challenge 3: Mars propellant production
13:29. Challenge 4: Right Propellant
16:00. Mars Vehicle video
21:34. System architecture
23:25. Technical details
28:27. Vehicles by performance
31:38. Thruster & booster
36:27. Spaceship
39:34. Heat shield & Crew compartment
42:22. Costs & funding
45:45. History of SpaceX
52:34. Next… Dragon 2 on Mars in 2018
57:47. Raptor engine & carbon fibre tank
1:01:47. Beyond Mars
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(Top photo, Hector-Guerrero; via The Guardian)
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Linda Wolf
Stephen Nugent
Amber Lee Ettinger
Annie Leibovitz
Avery Brooks
Ayumi Hamasaki
Camilla Belle
Don Mclean
Donna Karan
Efen Ramirez
Gillian Welch
Kelly Ripa
Lene of Aqua
Lorraine Braco
Maribel Verdu
Mandisa
Philip Oakey
Rex Reed
Samantha Barks
Sting
Tiffany
The post October 2nd: It’s YOUR Birthday, Bitch! appeared first on The WOW Report.
October 2, 1949– Annie Leibovitz was always my choice to shoot the cover for my much anticipated first album Low Hanging Fruit. I would have given the world’s greatest living portrait photographer full creative carte blanche, trusting her to bring out the authentic Stephen.
In 1970, Leibovitz approached Jann Wenner, the gay founding editor of Rolling Stone Magazine, which he’d recently launched and was operating out of a funky office on Brannan Street in San Francisco. Impressed with her portfolio, Wenner gave Leibovitz her first assignment: photographing John Lennon. Leibovitz’s black and white cover portrait of the former member of The Beatles graced the January 21, 1971 issue. Two years later she was named the magazine’s chief photographer.
In 1980, Rolling Stone sent Leibovitz to photograph Lennon and Yoko Ono, who had recently released their amazing album Double Fantasy. For that portrait, Leibovitz imagined that the pair would pose naked. Lennon took off his clothing, but Ono refused to take off her pants. A disappointed Leibovitz told Ono to leave her clothes on. Leibovitz:
“We took a single Polaroid and the three of us knew it was profound right away.”
The result shows Lennon naked and curled around a fully clothed Ono. It would be iconic anyway, but just hours later Lennon was murdered, shot dead in front of his residence at the famed Dakota Apartments on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The photograph was the cover of the Rolling Stone Lennon commemorative issue. In 2005, the American Society Of Magazine Editors named it The Best Magazine Cover of the 20th Century.
In 1983, Leibovitz left Rolling Stone to work for Vanity Fair. With a wider choice of subjects, her portraits for Vanity Fair ranged from Presidents to writers to rock stars. Her covers for the magazine have featured Leibovitz’s stunning and frequently controversial portraits of celebrities: a naked and very pregnant Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg sitting in a bathtub of milk and last summer Ms. Jenner’s Call Me Caitlyn reveal are among the most remembered. Always noted for her ability to make her subjects become physically involved in her work, one of my most favorite Leibovitz portraits is of the late, great gay artist Keith Haring, who painted himself like one of his canvases for his photograph.
At the end of the 1980s, Leibovitz worked on a several campaigns that changed the advertising world, including the terrific, revealing American Express “Membership” ads featuring her portraits of celebrity cardholders, including Elmore Leonard, Tom Selleck and Luciano Pavarotti. This work earned her the Clio Award, the advertising biz’s Oscar.
“I don’t have two lives. This is one life, and the personal pictures and the assignment work are all part of it. I try for most intimate, it tells the best story, and I care about it.”
Leibovitz has been made a Commandeur des Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France. She has been designated a Living Legend by the Library Of Congress. Her first museum show Photographs: Annie Leibovitz 1970-1990 was held in at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. in 1991 and it toured internationally for 6 years. At the time she was only the second living portraitist and the only woman to have been featured in an exhibition by that hallowed institution.
In 1998, Leibovitz met writer Susan Sontag while photographing the noted writer for her book Aids And Its Metaphors (1989). The pair of titan talents became lovers, but kept separate apartments. I like that. Leibovitz:
“I remember going out to dinner with her and just sweating through my clothes because I thought I couldn’t talk to her. Sontag told me: ‘You’re good, but you could be better’.”
Sontag’s influence on Leibovitz was profound. In 1993, Leibovitz traveled to Sarajevo during the Balkans War, a trip that she admits would not have taken place except for Sontag’s insistence. Among her pieces from that trip is Sarajevo: Fallen Bicycle Of A Teenage Boy Just Killed By A Sniper, a profoundly powerful black and white photograph of a bike collapsed on blood-smeared pavement. Sontag, who wrote the accompanying essay, also conceived Leibovitz’s book Women (1999). The book includes images of famous females along with those not so well-known. Celebrities Susan Sarandon and Diane Sawyer share pages with female soldiers in basic training and Las Vegas showgirls in and out of costume.
The couple was together 15 years, until Sontag left this world at the end of 2004. Leibovitz gave birth to her first child, a daughter, when she was 51 years old. Five months after Sontag’s passing she had twin girls.
Leibozitz chronicled the end of Sontag’s time on our pretty planet, including controversial, often contentious, photographs of Sontag in her hospital room at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, barely recognizable but unmistakably dying. At around the same time, she was also photographing her 91 year old father as he was losing his battle with that damn cancer in 2005.
“Every single image that someone would have a possible problem with or have concerns about, I had them too. This wasn’t like a flippant thing. I had the very same problems, and I needed to go through it. The fact that they came out of a moment of grief gave the work dignity.”
Leibovitz has never been exactly forthcoming about being gay. Choosing the closet or not, my admiration for her work knows no bounds. It is difficult for me to find a favorite photograph to be named my favorite, this morning I would choose Meryl Streep for Rolling Stone.
Her new exhibition, Women: New Portraits, is currently touring around the globe. Gloria Steinem, whose image is hanging in the exhibition, says of Leibovitz:
“She looks beyond gender, beyond stereotypes, beyond masks of the day, to show us that everything alive is both universal and unique. Including me. Including you.”
If you can only afford to have one of her many books of pictures, choose Annie Leibovitz At Work. My copy now lives at The Husband’s shop, Boys’ Fort, in Downtown Portland. If you are around, stop in and have a seat on a piece of hand-crafted furniture and have a look.
The post #BornThisDay: Photographer, Annie Leibovitz appeared first on The WOW Report.
Greg Hodge. Would he get in if it wasn’t his club…?
“The idea for the bar springs from the website…” in an ideal world, you “would look across the bar and see a person’s spirit or soul.”
It will be an exclusive, members only space for the gorgeous people to hang out with each other. To gain admission, you first need to join the website, where you submit headshots, bodyshots and a profile. (Why bother with a profile?)
You then have to pass a rating process where existing members vote on applicants over a 2-day period where you can check in to see where you stand. If accepted, you join, attend BP events.
Members of the online club, which is now in 120 countries, and has over 850,000 members, can gain access to the private West Hollywood bar.
But if to bring a guest (who might not be up to BP standards) a door person will determine on the spot if you are a 10 or not.
“The fundamental principal of human nature is that we all initially at least want to be with someone we’re attracted to… I certainly believe beauty is in eye of beholder, but the biggest problem with the online market is people being disingenuous in their profiles. We give an accurate representation of what it is we have.
It’s filled with bright intelligent, articulate people, people from all walks of life from dental nurses to models. We get backlash it’s discriminatory, but we’re simply owning it.”
Greg nauseatingly adds:
“Being ugly is not a protected characteristic.”
Meaning you are allowed to be an asshole at BP! But Greg argues that even though some people don’t like it his bar and online club are open to every culture and religion—you can worship who or what you want, you just have to be super hot while you do it.
“People want to be attracted to each other, everyone in there will be attractive. It’s like a microcosm of society.”
Beautiful People is set to open in February of 2017. No mention of how gorgeous gay, lesbian and trans people fit into this process…?
Two online BP members
(via Bravo TV)
The post Exclusive New L.A. Club Admits Only the “Beautiful People” appeared first on The WOW Report.
SNL‘s season opener was pretty familiar for 85 million people who watched Monday’s first presidential debate, except it featured a revision; Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump.
Baldwin played opposite SNL’s regular Clinton, Emmy-winner Kate McKinnon and the sketch took digs at both candidates, such as by lampooning Trump’s thoughts about “the blacks” and Clinton’s concerted efforts to be relatable.
“She’s the one with the bad temperament. She’s always screaming. She’s constantly lying. Her hair is crazy. Her face is completely orange. Except around the eyes where it’s white. And when she stops talking, her mouth looks like a tiny little butthole.”
McKinnon’s Clinton said,
“Here’s a tip. If you never want to see my face again, elect me president and I swear to God I will lock myself in the Oval Office and not come out for four years. But if you don’t elect me, I will continue to run for president until the day I die.”
Watch.
The post #SNL: Alec Baldwin KILLS With His Donald Trump Impression. Watch appeared first on The WOW Report.
