A blog for artists and lovers of the arts from around the world, featuring discussions, appreciation and commentary on visual art, performance art and art-film.
'Hilary Duff insists punk rocker boyfriend Joel Madden will have to put a wedding ring on her finger before he gets the chance to bed her - because she plans to stay a virgin until her wedding night."
The 18-year-old pop star/actress has revealed she has never had sex and is upset when fans automatically assume she and Good Charlotte star Madden are bedmates.
She says, "It's harder having a boyfriend who's older because people just assume.
"But (virginity) is definitely something I like about myself. It doesn't mean I haven't thought about sex, because everyone I know has had it and you want to fit in."
Could this simply be a statement aimed at preserving Duff's squeaky clean image? Methinks so. Especially since Joel Madden, Duff's significantly older boyfriend doesn't seem the abstention type. Whatever, judge for yourselves.
Beatles tracks which were previously unheard have been re-worked as part of a spectacular circus show which premieres in Las Vegas tomorow night. Every note the Beatles ever performed has been taken with, astonishingly, the full permission of Paul, Ringo, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison.
"Love", which George Martin has helped to produce, will pay tribute to former Beatles Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, who will attend the show tomorrow night with their families.
Check out this video. I wish I had legs like this bloke...kinda. It would be pretty hard to fit into pants, and you'd prabaly get some wicked chafing from your quads rubbing all the time, and it does look a bit silly, and it has probably taken this guy about a million years in the gym to get his pins like that, and you'd have to eating twenty meals a day to maintain that level of bulk. So yeah, maybe it's not that great, or is it? Yeah, it's pretty good, it'd be like being a real life cartoon and that, as we all know, comes with a host of related benefits...jumping tall buildings in a single leap, shooting spiderweb from your wrists, batsuit and so forth. But I never knew (going from the clip) that cartoon superheroes were so hopelessly endowed...poor Lois Lane.
Piss Christ is a controversial photograph by American photographer Andres Serrano. It depicts a small plastic crucifix supporting the body of Jesus Christ submerged in a glass of the artist's urine. Some have suggested that the glass may also contain the artist's blood. The piece was a winner of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art's "Awards in the Visual Arts" competition, which is sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a United States Government agency that offers support and funding for artistic projects.
The piece caused a scandal when it was exhibited in 1989, with detractors accusing Serrano of blasphemy and others raising this as a major issue of artistic freedom. On the floor of the United States Senate, Senators Al D'Amato and Jesse Helms expressed outrage that the piece was supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, since it is a federal taxpayer-financed institution.
I have to apologise to everyone out there, and to the man himself, for paying out Keith Urban in a previous post. After being caught up in the Nicole Kidman - Keith Urban wedding frenzy that descended on Sydney over the past week, I have seriously changed my tune, becoming a huge Keith Urban fan.
The reason for this transformation. I have a huge amount of respect for a guy who has obviously come such a long way in such a short time. Ten years ago Urban was snorting more cocaine than Al Pacino in Scarface and posing for Playgirl, and now Urban's not only a huge star in his own right but he's waking up of a morning next to one of the most beautiful women on the planet...you can't fault that.
Another of my favourite composers is Igor Stravinsky. A true innovator in classical music Stravinsky is credited as a pioneering modernist.
As Time puts it: "Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, on May 29, 1913, was the setting of the most notorious event in the musical history of this century — the world premiere of The Rite of Spring. Trouble began with the playing of the first notes, in the ultrahigh register of the bassoon, as the renowned composer Camille Saint-Saens conspicuously walked out, complaining loudly of the misuse of the instrument. Soon other protests became so loud that the dancers could barely hear their cues. Fights broke out in the audience. Thus Modernism arrived in music, its calling card delivered by the 30-year-old Russian composer Igor Stravinsky."
Another of my favourite composers is Igor Stravinsky. A true innovator in classical music Stravinsky is credited as a pioneering modernist.
As Time puts it: "Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, on May 29, 1913, was the setting of the most notorious event in the musical history of this century — the world premiere of The Rite of Spring. Trouble began with the playing of the first notes, in the ultrahigh register of the bassoon, as the renowned composer Camille Saint-Saens conspicuously walked out, complaining loudly of the misuse of the instrument. Soon other protests became so loud that the dancers could barely hear their cues. Fights broke out in the audience. Thus Modernism arrived in music, its calling card delivered by the 30-year-old Russian composer Igor Stravinsky."
A couple of posts ago I discussed Mahler's Symphony No. 5 and also, more generally, Mahler as a composer. Related to that post, I thought that it might be interesting to look at one of Mahler's contemporaries, Jean Sibelius, whose musical project diverged markedly from Mahler's.
Jean Sibelius (1865 – 1957) was a Finnish composer of classical music, and one of the most popular composers of the late 19th and early 20th century. His music and genius have also played an important role in forming the Finnish national identity. The core of Sibelius' music is his collection of seven symphonies. Like Beethoven, Sibelius uses each one to work out a musical idea and/or to further develop his own personal style. These continue to be popular, and have often been programmed in concerts and recorded since their premieres. Among his most famous compositions are Finlandia, Valse Triste and the Violin Concerto.
Given the fascination that this 'art' devoted site has developed with extreme bodybuilding, here's another offering, this time it's the man mountain Mariusz Pudzianowski, aka, the World's Strongest Man, working out in the Gymnasium. Not only is this guy a huge unit but, going from the video, he's also extremely flexible and strangely graceful. I also especially like the 'Eastern bloc' soundtrack and Polish dialogue featured in the clip...very classy.
I just watched Rachel Lucas' 2004 film 'Bondi Tsunami' and seriously I don't really know what to make of it. At the level of plot, there's not a lot to explain. 'Bondi Tsunami' is a feature length road movie about the Japanese surfing subculture in Australia. The film is inspired by the young Japanese that come to Australia on working holiday visas, in search of "sun, surf and salvation", as the film's protagonist 'Shark' puts it.
The Shark is a young Japanese surfer, who lives and works as a chef in Bondi, amongst the bohemian Japanese surfing community. Yuto, the Shark's dare devil, hyperactive mate, arrives in Sydney from Tokyo and Shark picks him up from the airport in his vintage EK Holden station wagon, and the two friends embark on a what Japaneselifestylemagazine calls a "whitemans walkabout- a surfing safari up the east coast of Australia, to Surfers Paradise."
My favourite western is probably Sam Peckinpah's 1973 film 'Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid', which stars Kris Kristoffersen as the Kid and James Coburn as Garrett, old friends who find themselves on different sides of the law. The film's plot charts Garrett's journey in search of the Kid; a physical journey, but also a journey that charts the destruction of his spirit and, at the same time, the spirit of the 'Old West'. As Garrett puts it resignedly "this country's growin' old, and I plan to grow old with it." Maximilian Le Cain suggests, I thik rightly, that the film holds a place in the canon of American film making:
Last night I watched Luchino Visconti's filmic masterpiece 'Death in Venice' for about the hundredth time. As Dirk Bogarde collapses in the film's final sequence I was reminded of what an amzing score the film has - mostly drawn from what is one of my favourite pieces of classical music, Gustav Mahler's Fifth Symphony.
Gustav Mahler was born on 7 July 1860 in Bohemia and died on 18 May 1911 aged 50. His father was an innkeeper, and Gustav was the second of 14 children, though many of his siblings died as children, and his musical gifted brother Otto committed suicide in 1895.
Last month, Australian director Rolf de Heer's new film 'Ten Canoes' took the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The film is certainly unique. It's set in a remote Aboriginal community in Arnheim Land and the dialogue is entirely in the Aboriginal language of the area.
Not having seen the film myself, I'll let david Stratton's review in The Australian sketch the plot:"There are several stories, really, as the film is filled with amusing digressions, but basically it is set in two time frames." Specifically, the film cuts between a story set in the modern era and one set in a mythic past. As Stratton describes this narrative, "One thousand years ago, Dayindi, played by Gulpilil's son Jamie, joins other men on a trip to make bark canoes to hunt for goose eggs. The expedition is led by old Minygululu (Peter Minygululu) who has been made aware Dayindi covets his third and youngest wife. The old man's way of dealing with the situation is to tell the younger man a story set long, long ago when there was a similar problem involving the young wife of a tribal leader."
Shannon Noll is an Australian singer, who came to prominence when he was runner-up of the first series of Australian Idol (2003) and is now an established and popular artist in his own right. Noll is from the small town of Condobolin in outback western New South Wales and grew up working in farms shearing sheep amongst other things. He had singing experience with the band Cypress, with his two brothers, which toured around the Australian outback before Noll got his big break on Idol. Tragically, in 2001 Noll witnessed the death of his father Neil in a farming accident.
The 'comedian' Wil Anderson, exhibiting his persisent ability for taking the piss out of hard tagets took aim at Noll's deceased Dad at this year's Melbourne International Comedy Festival:
If you like salsa dancing and you like Street Fighter 2, then check this video out. The couple featured taking the popular video game as their performance inspiration...very silly.
Street Fighter II' Plus: Champion Edition for Sega Genesis/Mega Drive
Hugh Jackman is touted to replace Russell Crowe as the lead in Baz Luhrmann's untitled WWII epic set around the bombing of Darwin in 1942.
According to hollywood.com, Crowe was set to play Nicole Kidman's lover in the $150 million movie set around the Japanese bombing of Darwin, Australia, in 1942. Crowe reportedly demanded script approval before signing on for the film as a result it got delayed, hence the film's producers told Luhrmann to find a replacement. The director then met with Ledger and offered him the role.
Tom Burlinson, who in 2003 performed Frank - A Life in Song at the Star City Showroom is back at the same venue with the sequel Frank - More From a Life in Song
For the past 17 months Tom has been starring as Leo Bloom in the hit musical The Producers – the new Mel Brooks musical. Starring roles in other musical productions include “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”, “Merrily We Roll Along” and “Miracle City”. His most famous film roles include “The Man From Snowy River” and “Phar Lap”.
For all you Australian Idol freaks out there I have some very fabulous news. Guess who's coming to the Star City showroom this July. No, not Celine Dion. And no, not Barbara Streisand. It's the 'Young Divas', four of Australia's prodigious young 'talents' - Australian Idol winner Kate DeAarugo, 2005 runner-up Emily Williams, powerhouse pop singer Ricki-Lee and the sensational Paulini, will come together in Sydney on Friday July 14, at the Star City showroom , for the concert spectacular "Young Divas".
Howard Stern: comedian, broadcaster, pornographer and activist is one of those pervasive cultural phenomenons that I struggle to understand (see also Snoop Dogg, Paris Hiton etc). Recently named by TIme Magazine as one of the hundred most infuential people who has "shaped our world", Stern's sphere of infuence cannot be understated.
'We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand.' -Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso is popularly and criticially regarded as one of the twentieth century's most important artists. And for that reason, Picasso's body of work has become canonised. In the words of John Goodrich, "It's safe to say that no artist has been so over-exposed as Picasso. It isn't simply the seemingly countless exhibitions and critical studies; his styles (all of them!) have so thoroughly infiltrated popular culture that no one thinks twice about the Picassoid typefaces in travel posters or the Picasso doves on hand-woven rugs from Mexican villages."
After criticism of my Mr Olympia Ronnie Coleman post, on the grounds that I was not affording this 'sportsman' sufficient respect for what is apparently a very demanding discipline, I thought I'd rehabilitate the bodybuilding theme in today's post, looking this time at female bodybuilding.
To be honest I don't know any female bodybuilders. On the rare occasion that I 'hit the plates' it's usually the guys on the squat cage whilst the women do cardiovasular stuff, each sex striving after its respective ideal of beauty.
Harry
Tash Jayasinghe
Dexter
Cibbuano
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