Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Art All Night: Lawrenceville: DONATE to Art All Night
As Art All Night 16 draws closer, we continue our search for more help and more supplies. Now might be a good time to do some spring cleaning and donate the items listed below. (You have these laying around the house, right?)
Here’s what we’re looking for to do participatory art, onsite…
A LIFE, UNORTHODOX.: TRUTH BLURB
Once while at a bookstore, the old man next to me grabbed a book off the shelf and walked back to his wife who was further down the aisle. He shows her his book and says, “I found a good one.” She turns to him, smiling and says, “I found a good one, too. Long ago.” And then she kisses him.
All Things Beautiful: DENISE: The Single Girl's Guide to Surviving the DENNIS System
If you’re a fan of the television sitcom “Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia” the term D.E.N.N.I.S may sound familiar to you. If you’re not, allow me to clarify. On the tenth episode of the show, which aired back in 2009, the womanizing Dennis explains to the gang his foolproof step-by-step guide to…
cockenblog: Hope Your Day is Going Better
This morning I decided to wear a dress because I’m sick of winter. At the last minute I caved on my rebellion and I threw on a pair of tights beneath it because FINE, March. YOU WIN, you asshole.
It turns out the decision to put on tights was extremely fortuitous, as the undapants I’m wearing…
Greece
5 Things Ryan Gosling Can Do With His New Spare Time
By now, I’m sure you have heard the news that Ryan “Hey Girl” Gosling, will be taking a break and stepping away from acting for awhile. Let’s face it, dude has been in the biz since he was 12. He deserves a break. Gosling told the Associate Press, “ I’ve lost perspective on what I’m doing. I think it’s good for me to take a break and reassess why I’m doing it and how I’m doing it.” Amen brother. Going by the last few films he’s been in, I think he needs a time out. Now before you get all sad and suicidal about a future without Gosling, know that you can find help. A hotline, or “Gosline”, has been created for those who can’t find the strength to get out or bed, or those who have nothing better to do with their hard earned cash. By the by, you can also send that cash to me and I will gladly talk to you about the wonderfulness that is Gosling. Also, my little Goslings, Gosling has several movies slated to be released in the next 2 years. This gives us some time to adjust. Having quit jobs myself, I know what he’s going through. I’m sure Gosling is in the middle of an existential crisis right now. What does it all mean? What will I do? I can’t spend all of my off time re-watching the entire Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. Not to worry Gos. I’ve got you covered. I have come up with 5 ways I think you should spend your new found free time.
1. Start campaigning for People’s Sexiest Man Alive. Two years in a row, we have all been very troubled by People Magazine shunning our boy of his rightful title. Make some buttons with a catchy slogan. Gosling needs to go door to door and get America to rally together to make sure this injustice doesn’t see a third year.
2. While he’s out campaigning, he can apologize for Drive, Gangster Squad & Crazy Stupid Love. I was less than thrilled about each of those films. On second thought, he showed off his crazy stupid “photo shopped” abs in Crazy Stupid Love, so I can forgive that one.
3. Take up ventriloquism. If Lars and the Real Girl taught us nothing, it’s that Gosling has the ability to make us really care about his relationship with a lifeless being. Also see, Blue Valentine…
4. Get back to his musical roots. In 2009, Gosling and his BFF Zach Shields banded together to form Dead Man’s Bones. They released a CD full of creepy music all recorded on the first take. It’s as if Bela Lugosi had a band. A follow up would be pretty awesome, thus sparking a tour. Or, he can host a new reality show to form the next, new, new Mickey Mouse Club.
5. Full time emotional super hero. We know that he can handle himself in a street fight, so there’s nothing to prove by wasting his time stopping the common criminal. He’s gonna get in there deeper and take care of any emotional crimes committed against you, girl.
There’s only one surefire way back into a woman’s heart and parts beyond. I speak of course…of karaoke.
Zapp Brannigan (via doctorkongx)
kfan:
OK by now you’ve seen this article in The Onion and been like UGH TOO REAL. Yes! It is too real. It is painful and we recognize ourselves and the choices we have made in this article.
But I think the reason this article is painful is because culturally we define success in such a weird and outdated way. There’s this idea that if you’re not doing what you’re most passionate about all the time, you’re a failure. If you aren’t make a living at it, you’re a failure. If you’re not Stephen King or Christina Aguilera, you’re a failure. And I think we grew up in this kind of 50-year pop culture bubble where we saw many people becoming huge megastars, actors and singers and writers and whatever else. And part of the disconnect we have now about what we should pay for music and books and movies, and how these things should be funded, are tied up with these questions about what we owe to ourselves, and what we feel society & culture owe to us, and the media value we assign to certain “professions”.
I was having dinner with Mary-Kim the other night and we talked a lot about how much more successful as writers we would feel if we didn’t give a shit about our families and lives. I might have gotten farther faster as a writer if that’s all I ever did or thought about, but like, so what? Is that a good model for how a person should live their life? It’s not that I love my day job all the time, but it’s a thing that someone needs to be doing, same as a lot of people’s jobs. And it’s not like me and my job and my writing are completely separate and siloed aspects of my self. My creativity is a thing that comes out in my writing on the internet, in my parenting, and in the rejection letters I send as part of my day job. That’s kind of a success, right? Albeit not one that sells magazines or drives clicks.
Maybe it’s not useful to define one person as the garbage collector and one person as the singer. Maybe everyone is a lot of things. Maybe the self-obsessed celebrity artist culture isn’t that helpful or useful. Maybe eventually we get to a place where we see that books and music and art are created by us, people who have school and day jobs and other shit we care about. And we’re not rich celebrities, and we are all always being pulled in different directions, but we’re present and engaged with the people in our lives? And we value what we contribute as much as what we create? And we create things because want to, and not because we have expectations for what it will get us, or how it will cause society to value us? And we don’t berate and hate ourselves for the very human failure of having a lot of complicated shit to juggle in our lives? That might be kind of cool?
5 Reasons Not To Dismiss Bates Motel….Yet (Spoilers)
Like most Hitchcock and Psycho fans, I was eagerly awaiting the premiere of A&E’s Bates Motel, for months. I don’t have cable, and don’t like downloading things from the interwebs all willy-nilly. So, understandably, I was concerned that I would have to wait until the show was released on DVD. To my delight, my trusted XBOX Live account offered the series for me to enjoy. And the first episode was FREE!
You should know that Psycho, is my all time most favorite movie, followed closely by Mommie Dearest, Fight Club and The Wiz. What? That said, I was kind of nervous that this new series would be similar to that of a Psycho “remake” that I am still in talks with attorneys about getting some sort of pain and suffering compensation.
I was 8 minutes into the series and annoyed by Norman having an iPod. I was ready to turn it off, but decided to keep going. Once the end credits rolled, I found myself very much wanting to see where this new incarnation of Norman and Mother Bates was going to go. I won’t dismiss them just yet. And here are 5 reasons why you shouldn’t either.
1. There have been some posts about people hating the actor (Freddie Highmore) that plays young Norman Bates. In the past, this kid has spent his time with fairies and oompa loopas, which I feel is a perfect start in trying to understand Norman Bates. Assuming that this Norman will take the same path as Hitchcock’s mother lovin Norman, I can’t see any better back story Norman wasn’t particularly creepy. Awkward, yes. Unable to cut through his mother’s umbilical noose, of course. In my opinion, the TV series is introducing us to the point where the oedipal relationship between Norman and his mother really begins. Highmore’s Norman has yet to be molded into Perkins’ Norman.
2. Past vs. Present. It’s not a literal adaptation. I personally feel like the choice to bring it to present day, gives the audience a visual scale of the vast differences between the Bates home life and the outside world. The house is furnished in very dated artifacts, and even Norman and Mother’s wardrobe could be mistaken for the Perkins era.
3. Vera Farmiga is doing something special in trying to capture the essence of the controlling, timid yet forceful Mother Norma Bates. It’s seen the moment she appears on screen, answering her son’s panicked screams after he finds Mr. Bates dead in the basement. She reacts to the dead body with about as much shock and grief as someone who dropped a paper clip on the floor.
4. The town is a character. We are given a hint that there is something rotten in the state of Denmark. The previous owner of the motel fully believes he can get away with terrorizing a raping Mother Bates because he goes “fishing with half the police department”. And it seems the weird little book Norman found under the carpets is more like a How To Manual.
5. Maybe they will kill off some of those annoying teenagers.
Let’s remember children, this a TV series based on characters in a movie that were based on characters from a novel. There must be room left for interpretation. And if it all goes down hill, well you can’t really blame me. I had nothing to do with the creation of the series.
The Rugged Twelve
My Top 12 Movies of 2012
2012 set box-office records. There were so many films released this year, quite a few with repeat players. Channing Tatum and Tom Hardy had a busy year. Even with the help of Netflix, I was unable to keep up. I have yet to see a number of these movies, which may otherwise have made this list. And there are some that I found enjoyable, but I’m trying to keep to a minimum of 12. The films listed below, are films that I found either thought provoking, different, or just plan entertaining. These are, in no particular order, my 12 favorite films from 2012.
1. We Need to Talk About Kevin: Nurture vs Nature? The question that keeps so many parents up at night. Ezra Miller gives a brilliantly creepy performance as Kevin in this proper adaptation of the novel.
2. Hitchcock: I don’t care that this isn’t exactly the way the making of Psycho went down. Performances by Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, James D’Arcy, and even Scarlett Johansson were attention holding and enjoyable.
3. Magic Mike: I’m gonna be straight. We are all friends here. Cinematic genius, this was not. But sometimes, you just need a fluff film that requires no thought. Just pretty moving images. My hat goes off to Soderberg, Tatum, Manganiello, and McConughey (who plays an excellent carnie) for providing that to me. I don’t know what else the story was about. Was there a script?
4. 21 Jump Street: I was a big fan of the 1987 series, and the remake did not disappoint. This could have gone completely south, but the film appropriately makes fun of itself. Look out for cameos from all four original Jump Street detectives. 
5. The Raven: Beautifully shot, well-acted and a good use of Edgar Allan Poe-etry.
6. Looper: The film was visually appealing in a way that I was given the impression that it is based off of a graphic novel. There was humor, plenty of action, twists and turns (not so much that you’ll get nauseous) and a love story-ish.
7. Pitch Perfect: Fun, fun, funny with a great soundtrack.
8. The Cabin in the Woods: Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon’s take on the typical story of 5 stereotyped teenagers spending a weekend in a disserted cabin in the woods, which takes a not so stereotypical turn.
9. Killer Joe: In this “toxic, trailer trash thiller”, McConughey is straight up psychotic sheriff that moonlights as a hitman. It’s gonna be awhile before I can eat fried chicken again. But at least McConughey managed to get through the entire 102 minutes without saying “Alright, Alright”.
10. Sparkle: A proper remake of the less popular, 1976 version of the same name that starred Irene Cara and Phillip Michael Thomas. Yes, PMT had a life before Miami Vice. 
11. Lawless: An interesting tale of three bootlegging brothers. Finally, a film where Shia LaBouf doesn’t play, Shia LaBouf. Word is, he sipped on moonshine on set. If it makes him a more layered actor, he should keep that up.
12. The Words: This film was like a Russian nesting doll. A story, within a story, within a story. I was genuinely impressed by Cooper’s presentation of young writer trying to deal with his own lies.
