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Entries matching 'mantra'
Posted Jan. 18, 2010,
The Buried Life's Jonnie and Dave on Doing Good and Being Scolded By Hugh Hefner
By Alex Catarinella
It pains
many of us to accept that Jersey Shore
is reaching its season finale this week. But change is good, and there's a new
show coming to MTV that's worthy of a fist pump. The Buried Life, starring
four twenty-something friends from Victoria, Canada. The unscripted (how refreshing!)
reality show follows the ambitious foursome -- whose goals, though occasionally goofy, reach way beyond tanning competitions at the shore -- as they travel the country to complete their list of 100 things they'd like to do before they
die. With each goal they cross off the list, they also help a stranger cross off something meaningful on their
list. Think of it as a do-gooding Jackass.
I met the show's awesome Dave Lingwood
and Jonnie Penn in 2009 at the
Beatrice Inn (which already garners them cool points) and recall them mentioning
their little road trip documentary. A year later, the Buried Life is on the front page of the New York Times, who described the show as "MTV for the era of
Obama." (Shooting hoops with Mr. President is on the boys' list -- stay
tuned to see if its gets crossed off.) The show premieres tonight on MTV at
10 p.m., and Penn and Lingwood recently chatted with PAPERMAG about traveling the country in a giant purple bus, getting a stern talking to from Hugh Hefner, their plans to meet Fidel Castro.Your show is three years in the making and finally debuts tonight. How does it feel that MTV picked it up?
Dave Lingwood: It was just a project when we started this. We weren't even trying to make a TV show. We were at a place in our lives, searching to do something and give ourself a bit of purpose. We started it up, but it wasn't until a year ago that MTV approached us to do a show for them. And it's number 53 on the list--make a TV show. Just crossing another item off. And we're stoked MTV has given us so much control over it and let us do our thing.
There's a huge publicity push behind this show--I just saw a billboard with your faces on it last night. What do you hope the show accomplishes?
Jonnie Penn: Our goal from day one was to make something that our friends would like, so we worked hard on it. We grew up watching skateboard movies and snowboard movies, and the style of the show definitely has some influence that way. Music is really important to us as well. We worked really hard to get music in the show that isn't in a lot of television. Even like Justice, Chromeo, Miike Snow, Flaming Lips, Coldplay -- lots of different types of music that people like. As for like a statement or mission, I don't know. I think we always just wanted to make something our friends will watch and take away what they want. We don't want to say 'You can do anything.' We're not like, 'Carpe diem' -- we don't live by that philosophy. Just 'What do you want to do before you die?' If you ask people that question, it sort of sparks the dialogue.
The Jersey Shore finale is this week. Do you think you'll find your own audience? Is America tired of obviously scripted shows about spoiled rich girls and hot messes?
Posted Apr. 21, 2009,
Bill Callahan Chats About New Album Sometimes I Wish I Were an Eagle
By Lauren Harris
The voice is unmistakable. Steady and mournful like a lone riverboat, Bill Callahan -- formerly known under his early ‘90s experimental rock moniker Smog -- may have added a few instruments, but his gilded pipes, delivering tales of loves lost and memories shunned, has returned with Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle, an album as beautifully confounding as its grammatically challenging title. From a made-up language delivered in Callahan’s utterly serious tenor to his plaintive and heartbreaking explorations of the intersection between God and nature, Callahan’s second album under his own name is a more lush affair, filled with orchestras and organs. For Eagle Callahan returned to his state of origin, writing and recording in Austin –- and it would seem there’s some slightly obscure stock-taking at work on this album. Album opener “Jim Kain” has Callahan crooning “I used to be darker, then I got lighter, then I got dark again.” We’re just happy to be along for the ride.
Where and over what period of time did you write the songs on this record?
I was at home. Mostly wrote during a couple months just before starting recording in August.
It seems that there’s a very strong connection between faith and the natural world. Can you talk a little about your own spirituality, and where you see nature in it (if at all)?
I don't really have any faith except in humans. I don't believe in spirits or the supernatural or anything that can't be seen or explained in terms I can relate to. I'm not sure what spirituality is. What is it? There's only real life as far as I'm concerned.
Posted Apr. 8, 2009,
Barbie and Ken Do London
By Rebecca Suhrawardi Austin
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It was a scene-and-a-half at Dover Street Market last night as Barbies and Kens as interpreted by Gareth Pugh, Roksanda Ilincic, and Danielle Scutt were unveiled to the public. It was a mash up of East End types, big-deal editors, super-bloggers, and young up-and-comers in the biz. Guests were treated to pink champagne and mini cupcakes with edible glitter toppings while they perused the racks of Barbie-infused items. The party became filled to brim quicker than two shakes of a lamb's tail, to the point that people waiting outside were only allowed in if people left, so one in for every one out quickly became the mantra at the door. Aside from all the Barbie and Ken mania, we chatted with Mandi Lennard, London's ultimate fashion publicist, who sported new pink locks dyed for the launch. Colin McDowell, one of the most respected fashion commentators of the day, described her to me once as having "such an eye," in terms of the clients she chooses to represent, and his words couldn't be truer. In chatting with Mandi, we found out that she has a blog on the site of major French boutique Colette. The blog is young and new, but is sure to spread like wildfire since what goes on in Mandi's head is so damn interesting. Be sure to support her and check it out!
Posted Mar. 17, 2009,
Laurie Anderson Tells "Some Stories" at the Guggenheim
By Alex Pasternack
"This is the time, and this is the record of the time," Laurie Anderson intones like a mantra at the start of her first big album, all the way back in 1984. As much an unsettling warning as it is a simple statement of mundane fact, it is a guide for all of her work: we don't just pass time, we record it by telling stories. And as she reminded us last Thursday at the Guggenheim, there's no one better at storytelling -- at recording the facts, and unsettling us -- than Anderson.
To be sure, her stories are less facts than artifacts, her performance a fanciful postmodern wonder cabinet of personal history and imagination. Like an angel in a dream, the spiky-haired postmodern icon appeared on stage in a cloud of fog and lights on the stage of the museum's downstairs auditorium. Once behind a bank of synthesizers that emitted her trademark unearthly music, Anderson unearthed some older stories and spun new ones, all vaguely hinging around issues of time. The performance, titled "Transitory Life: Some Stories," was occasioned by the museum's current exhibition on American artists contemplating Asia, The Third Mind, and the topic, she explained, has been filtered through her own adventures (and sometimes misadventures) with Buddhism. After sharing the details of a wacky upstate retreat, she guides us forward with a tale from medieval China. An exasperated emperor is interrogating a visiting lama. After a serious of cryptic replies, he finally asks, "Who are you?" The response: "I don't know."
As ever, her stories turn in circles, colored with confusion and an embrace of incompleteness, in love with the mundane. As birds of prey hover above him, her dog is introduced to a new set of fears from the sky (dangers from above is a decades-long theme), and though the story didn't need a direct allusion to New Yorkers after September 11, at least not before this audience, she offered it anyway. Recounting a stint working at the McDonald's near her house in Chinatown, she marvels at its delicious abundance of choices. "It was the first time in my life / that I could give people / exactly what they asked for," she said in that breathy, amazed voice. The audience, laughing always on cue, ate it all up.
Posted Feb. 12, 2009,
Luigi Tadini Reports: Fashion Optimism in These Bleak Times
By Luigi Tadini
In the weeks leading up to the fall/winter collections, many questions have been asked in regards to the effects our crumbling economy has had on the fashion industry. Unfortunately, I can't offer any lengthy advice when it comes to saving your 401K from complete oblivion, nor do I have the formula for saving your job and social security pension. I lack the finance degree and my education in business goes little beyond the handful of core credits, the daily tutoring from the New York Times Business section and the countless hours of television programming devoted to the crisis (Thanks, Maria Bartiromo!). So when my friends ask me these questions of finance meets fashion, I find myself searching for the right words trying to formulate the intelligent response they are looking for. Instead, all I can think about is the fact that creativity and innovation thrive in times of crisis. My new mantra might sound naïve but this Pollyanna approach to our times has been of immense help and actually propelled some personal growth and stimulated my very own creativity.
As Fox News calls for the heads of the Democrats as part of their never-ending liberal witch hunt, I say ignore it all. Ignoring does not mean forgetting or simply being oblivious to the world around us. In fact, if you possess the skills required to fix it all, please I urge to take the lead. But for others who lack the financial savvy but are skilled in the creative department, let's do what we do best: Let's inspire.
Posted Nov. 18, 2008,
Peter Davis' Status Update: Spork It
By Peter Davis
San Francisco is all about market fresh food. And only in SF would foodies transform an old Kentucky Fried Chicken in The Mission into a stylish restaurant serving delicious food. Spork (named after the spoon/fork combo that KFC invented in the 1960s) is the brainchild of chef/owner Bruce Binn who has cooked at SF spots like Delfina and Citizen Cake. The interior still features a massive hood that hung over the deep fryers but now serves as the light in the dining room. There is also a nod to KFC on the menu with "original recipe pull apart rolls" served with whipped honey butter and topped with sea salt. Spork's mantra is "slow food in a fast food shell." You can even buy an actual spork to bring home. Dig in!
Posted Nov. 13, 2008,
About Last Night... Los Angeles Premiere of Christmas on Mars Presented by Nike Sportswear
By Camille Rousseau
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I don’t know about you, but I’ve always wanted to go to a sci-fi convention. The jailbait geeks, the spirit of free love and tolerance, the costumes, the snacks…it’s all so enticing. Well, I’ve finally achieved my goal.
And no, I didn’t go to a sci-fi convention. I went instead to the screening of the Flaming Lips’ pet project, Christmas on Mars, hosted by Nike Sportswear at the Montalbán in Hollywood.
So wait. Let me preface that preface by saying I really don’t know much about the Flaming Lips. I mean, sure, I shimmy to "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots" while perusing the sales rack at Urban Outfitters and I know all the words to "She Don’t Use Jelly." I also know they put on fanciful live shows somehow involving furry animal people and giant balloons. And…yeah, that’s about it.
Posted Jul. 11, 2008,
Bevy Smith's Report from the Essence Music Festival, Part I
By Bevy Smith
Chile, Ms. Bevy is tired! I just touched down off my good ole Jet Blue flight from the Big Easy aka “Nawlins” aka home of the only rapper that can still sell records, Lil Wayne!!!! New Orleans is a magical place; yes it’s humid, hot and stinky in the summertime, but all that is an afterthought once you get into the culture of the city! New Orleans will feed you, offering sustenance for your stomach and your soul. Only a fool wouldn’t take it! From $2 beignets at Café Du Monde to gourmet dining at Emeril Legrasse’s Delmonico’s (thanks Joanna) you can’t help but eat until you are about to bust! Once your belly is poking out like you’re six months pregnant with a “stranger’s baby” (I promise to explain later) you are ready to dance off your shrimp/catfish “po boy” with some good music!!!
Which brings me to why I was actually in N.O.L.A. I was partaking in the most incredible music festival I’ve ever attended, the Essence Music Festival! Imagine tens of thousands of people in the Superdome (yes, the same one from Katrina, these are resilient people) partying to Rihanna, Mary J Blige, Chris Brown, Patti LaBelle (with a LaBelle reunion -- Ms. Patti may have fierce shoes but Nona Hendryx has got a fierce ass!), Jill Scott, Kanye and perennial favorite Frankie Beverly and Maze (they closed the festival and the entire place did the electric slide -- it’s electric boogie woogie woogie!). Whew, doesn’t that sound like a ki-ki good time? Well, that was just a sampler, kind of like the seafood platter at Acme Oyster House -- you have a little bit of this and a whole lot of that and it is so good you still want more!
The best is yet to come, but I must unpack my Hurricane drink mix (kind of like Kool Aid except that I add Hennessy for that extra kick!) that I purchased at the Walgreen’s on Canal Street and make myself a cold one! In New Orleans I started drinking around 10 a.m. and didn’t stop until 6 the next morning, so I’m well past my deadline! That explains why I felt so connected to a few of the lyrics from Lil’ Wayne’s smash hit “Lollipop.” “Shawty wanna thug, bottles in the club” -- that was definitely my mantra for the weekend! Now that’s all “shawty” is going to say about it for now, but once I feel more like my “Big Bevy in the Big Easy” self, I will post more of the sordid details, promise!
Posted Apr. 14, 2008,
Bevy Smith Gears Up for the Tribeca Film Festival
By Bevy Smith
Guess who’s back and for one whole week relocating to Tribeca? If you guessed your favorite “Harlem Honey” Bevy Smith you are right! Next week I will be hanging almost exclusively in Tribeca. No, I’m not house sitting for Jay and Beyonce while they are on their honeymoon/tour nor am I hanging out at Robert DeNiro’s Greenwich Hotel. I’m also not turning tricks with client no. #9, although I am intrigued by what goes on in all those black Lincoln Town Cars parked on every corner of Tribeca (corners, town cars, expense accounts -- sounds suspicious to me). No, the only trick I’m serving up is having secured a Tribeca Film Festival press pass good for free booze, gift bags, meeting tons of celebs and oh yeah, watching some really good films (you can’t call them movies, films are seen at festivals, movies are seen at Cineplexes)! I plan on attending at least one high profile event each day, interviewing celebrities and seeing all of the following films. Here’s my extremely short list of MUST SEES:
THE UNIVERSE OF KEITH HARING
I LOVED Keith Haring. For such a geeky looking guy he always seemed deeply connected to hip-hop! Maybe it was his raw honestly (admitting that he had AIDS when most people hid it) or his democratic feelings towards art (claiming that “art is for everyone!”), but I was always a big fan. I even owned a Keith Haring Swatch watch! Although this film has family and childhood friends discussing Keith’s early years, I’m looking forward to seeing footage of Keith Haring interviews in New York in the ‘80s, and reminiscing about SoHo before it was the Mall of America! And look out for cameos from Kim Hastreiter and Carlo McCormick.
CELIA THE QUEEN
A documentary about the late great Celia Cruz! I’m dying to see this film because I loved Ms. Cruz, her voice, her swagger (she held her own on stage with some of the greatest most machismo salsa stars of her time, Tito Puente, Willie Colon and Johnny Pacheco) and of course, her fashion sense! Pink hair + pink gown = MAJOR!
Posted Feb. 6, 2008,
R.I.P. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
By Ann Magnuson
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the grand guru to the stars of the '60s, has died. The divinely diminutive daeva, who I am told George Lucas used as the model for Yoda, brought Transcendental Meditation to the householders of the world and some of us ex-neurotics are quite grateful for it. Still the question remains... did he really come on to Mia Farrow?
Posted Aug. 7, 2007,
Intern-al Affairs: Meet Intern Michal
By Ursula Viglietta
Name: Michal Zebede
Age: 20
Hometown: Miami, FL
School: Cornell University
Major: Visual Perception (Cognitive Science combined with Art History-Film)
Best thing about interning at PAPER: When I got to go to a press preview for the opening of a store and write about it for the magazine -- it was a blast.
The worst: Back-to-back errands in NYC’s summer weather!
Fave PAPER cover and why: September 2005 - Shock and Awe. That face shocks and awes me every time I see it. It’s magnificent, beautiful and out-of-this-world unique.
Posted Jul. 24, 2007,
The Life And Times of Allen Ginsberg
By Dennis Dermody
Fabulous deluxe two-disc DVD of The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg, directed by Jerry Aronson is out now on New Yorker Films. I loved the movie when I reviewed it in 1994, but watching it again was bliss. It's a touching and insightful documentary on Beat poet and prophet of the hippie movement Allen Ginsberg that really translates to film the beauty and power of his words. Covering 50 turbulent years with other Beat writers such as William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, the film mixes great archive footage and features revealing interviews with Joan Baez, Norman Mailer, Ken Kesey and Ginsberg himself, painting a full-blooded portrait of a visionary writer and gentle soul.
Posted May. 1, 2007,
Intern-al Affairs: Meet Annette Piazza
By PAPERMAG Editors
Name: Annette Piazza
Age: 26
Title: Magazine intern
Hometown: Newtown, PA
School: The Art Institute of Philadelphia
Best thing about interning at PAPER: The people that work here; everyone is so nice, and willing to help you out and teach you things.
The worst: Updating contact databases!
Fave PAPER cover and why: Fergie, August 2005. I just love her look. I'm a fashion major so I look at the clothes!
Fave PAPER person and why: I have to pick two -- Mickey because he is just way too funny. He says whatever he wants and I love it. Also Diane, because she is so nice and gave me this great opportunity.
Where do you see yourself in five years: Hopefully working in this crazy industry we call fashion; whether it's at a magazine, or for a designer, I just want to do something I love...
Posted Apr. 26, 2007,
Asian Cannibal Movie -- The Last Supper!
By Dennis Dermody
The Last Supper is an outrageous, grisly Asian shocker about a handsome cosmetic surgeon named Dr. Yuji Kotonado (Masaya Kato). He is also secretly a cannibal, who delights in killing his dates and later grilling their body parts on the stove. He writes online a “Diary Of A Cannibal” on how he came to this, from first frying up some fat from one of the women he liposuctioned, to finding a woman hanging in the park who became his first real entrée.
“It is the desire to eat the meat of the one you love” is his mantra. There’s a wild scene when he travels to Hong Kong and goes to a private club where a woman is beheaded and the patrons all feast on her. Directed by Osamu Fukatani, mercifully some of the special effects are not great, but on the whole the movie is unbelievably bizarre. Yummy!
Posted Aug. 25, 2006,
Hollywood Death Match
By Ann Magnuson
Watching Hollywood heavyweights duke it out is as old as the hills. (Read about the latest bout involving Tom Cruise and Sumner Redstone in this LA Times article "Money is the Real Star in Hollywood.") Movie moguls were always putting the squeeze on out-of-control stars. One thing you learn out here REAL FAST is that EVERYONE IS REPLACEABLE. But I shed no tears for any of these big boy playas. Mega-moguls and mega-stars (and their power-mad mega-agents) have been ruining filmmaking for decades now. This "Tom Cruise is nuts/Lindsay Lohan is acting like a spoiled brat on the set and we aren't going to take it anymore' brouhaha is right on schedule.
I knew something was up several months ago when I got the inside dope from a friend who was working on the Ben Stiller-Jim Carrey movie. That baby was swiftly euthanized just as it was taking it's first toddler steps. We discussed at length how RADICAL it was for a studio to pull the plug on a big A-list project like that. It wasn't long after all the pre-production was nearly finished before someone in accounting finally figured out that the end result wouldn't be worth the stars' salaries. (Even though I secretly suspect the reason might have been because the subject matter -- a reverse Stepford Wives scenario where men are turned into the pre-programmed playthings of women who now rule the world -- was too frightening for the patriarchial mindset calling the shots.)
But there is no denying that, thanks to the stratospheric salaries and demands of the 'stars', the rest of us actors who have to fight for the leftover scraps of supporting roles thrown from the table have been screwed out of a decent paycheck.
Reuters got to the heart of the matter in this recent article online:
"There is a definitive, palpable change in climate," one source at a major Hollywood talent agency said. "Stars' demands have gotten so over-the-top, and they've gotten so petulant. And the studios, because they're part of publicly traded companies, have to maintain quarterly results, I do think they are less intimidated by the stars," he said.
...A high-ranking studio executive who declined to be named, said, "I think we're more willing to say 'no' now.... We're finding the more we pay, the less our profit margin is and the less people appreciate the risk that we're taking."
Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer...agreed that the demand for talent had become a kind of buyer's market.
"I think the studios are certainly being much more conscious of the bottom line, and they're being much more careful on how they structure their gross deals," he told Reuters. "They just are tightening the screws as far as what's good business for them and the (movie) community."
Nevertheless, the biggest stars, like Cruise and Tom Hanks, remain in demand, Bruckheimer said. "If you want Tom Hanks for a picture, he's got a price. You either want him for the picture and pay his price, or you go to somebody else," he said, adding that mid-level performers are the ones who get squeezed.
It's true. If your face hasn't been on the cover of VANITY FAIR, you're likely to hear the same mantra from your ineffectual agent: "Sorry, the role just pays scale. Take it or leave it. All the money is going to the star." The multi-millionaire star who doesn't need to struggle to stay eligible for their SAG health insurance! You know what? Fuck all those stars! We need some new ones anyway. Besides, who wouldn't rather stay home and YouTube?
If we're lucky the movie industry will go the way of the record industry and the world will find itself back in a frenzy of D.I.Y. creativity where artists can control their own destinies. Maybe the studios will crumble and small innovative films from younger versions of Hal Ashby and Robert Altman will "accidentally" get made and maybe a whole new Renaissance of American Filmmaking, a la "Easy Riders & Raging Bulls' , will happen. (But maybe without the cocaine.) And then maybe the revolution will expand to the political arena and the people can rise up and overthrow the oppression that keeps us in perpetual war and fear and distraction through shopping and mindless celebrity worship and.....oh, wait a minute. That sort of thing only happens in the movies, right?
Ones with subtitles.