I have to admit, I had zero interest in seeing ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World’ before I saw this trailer, but now…..WHOA!!!
General Interest Junk Everyone Should Know
There Are No Words…..
Nothing I say could possible add to the luminous beauty of this famous album cover by gospel singing trio The Faith Tones, so let’s all just sit back and enjoy, shall we?!!
You Mean You Can’t Use A Canon 7D For The Remake Of ‘War & Peace’…?!!
I love these xtranormal.com animations!
Up To My Ass In Bears……
Typical weekend at the house…
I Luvs The Piggy !!!
Best creepy commercial in a long time…..
The BEST New TV Show of the Day
Things have been quiet on The List lately…mostly ‘cuz I’ve been busy with work, but also ‘cuz I’ve just been lazy. It’s just been too damned hot to muster up the strength to hammer away a few pithy thoughts for you guys, so I decided to just ignore the place and maybe you would all go away, but that didn’t work so I guess I gotta get back on the horse.
I’ve been wanting to spread the word about my newest fave TV show…Louie…a must-watch for your Tuesday nights! Louis CK has created (he writes and directs every episode) kind of a Seinfeld for the New Millennium…it’s amazingly funny, it’s smartly written and best of all, it doesn’t follow any kind of normal structure you’re used to seeing on TV…every week it’s like they forgot what they did last week and started over! You can catch up on the back episodes over at FX, but please…set your DVR’s to FX every Tuesday night at 11:00PM…..you’re gonna thank me as you die laughing!
And for those of you chained to a cubicle, the following clip is completely Not Safe For Work !!!
You Need This…
…if you are an early adopter of the iPhone 4 and have experienced the ‘Death Grip’ dropped-call syndrome.
WIth Apple getting ready for their BIG press conference later today, pexagontech.com is offering FREE iWrap Bumpers that are supposed to minimize the antennae issues the iPhone is supposed to have. Just pay the $2.99 shipping & handling charge and they’ll fire of a swanky rubber band in your choice of six designers colors that will make you whole again! Of course, some folks say the rubber bumper won’t fix a thing and places like this are dumping the previously $20 iWrap before Steve Jobs comes out to say they’re worthless, but it does add a bit of color to an otherwise monochromatic phone.
Ain’t life grand?!!
R.I.P. Harvey Pekar
Underground comic book writer, working-class everyman and World-class curmudgeon, Harvey Pekar, checked out yesterday after 70 years of pissing off pretty much anybody who got close to him. For those of you who had never read American Splendor, it was a series of autobiographical comic books written by Harvey and illustrated by a laundry list of top-shelf underground talent that included Robert Crumb, David Collier, Drew Friedman, Gary Dumm and Joe Zabel. Who could have ever imagined that the adventures of a file clerk at a Veteran’s Administration hospital would catch the attention of so many, but Harvey’s mundane, everyday situations made him famous enough that he was a regular on David Letterman and had a movie made about his life starring Paul Giamatti. Well, until he got under the skin of Dave’s bosses at General Electric with an on-air rant where he criticized Letterman for being nothing but a shill for the corporation.
So Adios, Harvey…you were a true original…..and here is that last NBC appearance…
There are NO words…..
If you’re not a Food Network junkie, there’s a chance you don’t know Sandra Lee, but trust me…just sit back and enjoy!!! Take my word for it…it’s delicious!!!
I gotta say…I really feel like cocktail time!!!
Wine Reviewer of the Day
Those of you who know me, know I’m a serious wine geek…and I have just found my new favorite wine reviewer…Sadat X, from the Super Fly Hip-Hop group Brand Nubian!!!
Now THAT’S the Shit!!!
Stop the $300 Permit Fee !!!
I’m gonna jump on my soapbox and make an appeal to all photographers who live or shoot in New York City. Today is the last day to register with the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting to speak out at the hearing on June 3rd against charging fees for all still photography permits. Every editorial and advertising photographer uses the type of equipment that under current rules requires a film permit from the city and up until now those seeking a permit simply were required to carry $1,000,000 in liability insurance, but the new proposal is adding a non-refundable $300.00 ‘application’ fee for every time a permit is pulled to shoot! Given the razor-thin profit margins photographers are working with these days and the budget tightening our clients are faced with, a $300.00 permit fee will seriously hamper location shooting in the city.
I will be speaking on behalf of EP, ASMP, APA and NPPA, but the more photographers who get up and let their voices be heard, the better! If you’re available to to go the hearing being held June 3, 2010 at the 125 Worth Street Auditorium, you must register by TODAY…contact Dean McCann of the Mayor’s Office at 212-489-6710 or by e-mail at applicationfee@film.nyc.gov and if you can’t make the hearing, please vote “NO” on this online petition.
No Love Lost
!!! Spoiler Alert !!!
If the ‘LOST’ finale is still on your TIVO
Stop reading now!!!
______________________________
OK…first off, I’ll just say that while I may not be the most die-hard ‘Lost’ fan out there, I still have invested 6 stinking years of my life following the survivors of Oceanic Airways Flight 815, the Others, the Hatch, Jacob & the Smoke Monster, the Flash-Backs, Flash-Forwards & Flash-Sideways, Quantum Physics and Electromagnetic Forces, the four-toed statue, Mr. Cluck’s Chicken Shack, whether Richard Alpert uses mascara on his eyes and…those God-damned polar bears…..so after sitting through four and half hours of the ‘Lost’ series finale (five and half, if you count the wrap-up on Kimmel!), one word can sum up my feelings…DISAPPOINTED !!! I could Monday-Morning Quarterback this well into Tuesday, but the main things that bugged me were…
1. For a series that was consistently fast-paced and full of action, the finale plodded along as though it were stuck in quicksand. Cast member throwing each other long, meaningful glances leading to flashbacks bathed in warm, glowing light, all framed with the sappiest soap opera-esque musical accompaniment you could ever imagine! Half-way through the show I realized that despite the fact a few of the ‘Big Ticket Items’ were finally being revealed, I actually caught myself getting bored by the way the story was unfolding! And I never got bored by ‘Lost’!!! And what little action that was present seemed amateurish compared to what came before…a slow-motion Jack jumping in the air to punch Locke/MIB/Smokey looked like an out-take from ‘300’ and Kate finally killing Locke by shooting him in the back was not only telegraphed earlier in the show (“You might wanna save your bullets!”), but a totally unsatisfying way to dispatch the root of the island’s evil! This was how the final battle between Good & Evil I’ve waited for all these years ends…with an off-camera shot in the back?!! And finally, the ‘special effects’ employed when Jack replaced the cork-like rock to restore the Island’s magic was hokey enough to qualify for “Worst of the Year” lists everywhere! Excuse me, but am I the only guy who saw it as a poorly realized, blatant rip-off of Spock’s death in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”…?!!
2. A major part of why the show dragged had to do with ABC’s decision to sell more ad time than I’ve ever seen in a finale like this. Here I thought the reason the show was going to be 2 1/2 hours was because they were cramming more story for the fans, but nooooooo….it was simply to squeeze every possible advertising dollar outta the show! The editing suffered horribly because of it…you would just be getting into a scene when suddenly the action would cut to an ad! I’m sure ABC is sitting on a giant pile of cash this morning, but they should still get a trip to the woodshed over that one!
3. I know a series like this can’t answer every single hanging question, but there were far too many things left to the viewers imagination after the screen faded to black, like…
• How did the explosion of the Hydrogen Bomb that ended last season fit into all this? Did it create the Flash-Sideways World that was Season Six? Was everybody already dead or is that was did them in?!!
• The Dharma Initiative…will somebody please tell me just how the Hell it got started? I dunno..maybe I missed that episode, but somebody had to come up with the initial idea of moving a few submarine-loads of workmen to a very hard-to-find island in the South Pacific to get to work on cracking that Electromagnetic Anomoly!
• Walt and Michael turn up outta nowhere, but I still don’t know what made Walt ‘special’ and how he kept turning up to warn people.
• THAT DAMNED FOUR-TOED GIANT ON THE BEACH !!!!!
Finally and most importantly…I would have liked to think that after all of the great writing and crazy action and red herrings and time travel and meticulously interwoven story lines & relationships, the writers of this show…a truly memorable and groundbreaking production, I might add…could have come up with an ending a bit more satisfying than what to me was nothing but a religious cop-out with, “You’re all dead…walk into The Light!”. I realize that ‘Lost’ is simply a bit of modern mythology transmitted over the TV waves, but when it was all over I was left with the feeling that I just sat though a fifteen-course meal cooked by a Michelin 3-Star chef and for dessert he served me…ice cream! Yeah, everything up to this point was fabulous…..but ya’ couldn’t come up with a better finish than that?!!
Rant over…..but I really hope tonight’s Series-Ender for ’24’ is better!!!
Lost Series Finale Leaked!!!
Things have been crazy-busy here at Damn Ugly over the past couple of weeks and I’ve got some BIG news coming Monday, but until then, why dont’cha all enjoy this…..
FUCK HOBOKEN !!!
OK…so we’re out in Hoboken freezing our asses off this morning and I decide to do a quick portrait of the guy I was shooting on the sidewalk outside of his building…and yes, I knew that maybe I would need a permit, but we were only gonna be out there for fifteen stinking minutes and besides, it wasn’t like we had a twenty-person crew and motor homes and generators….but of course, just as we were ready to get going a cop pulls up and barks out, “You gotta permit for this?!!”…”No”, says I, pleading blissful ignorance of the complex photography laws of the fine State of New Jersey (insert all the sarcasm you can muster), “…but do you think you could let us slide?”. You already know the answer to that one, and he tells me I have to go Police Headquarters and fill out an application…
Off I go, meandering through the pothole-ravaged roads of the square-mile hamlet only known because Sinatra was born here, but when I get to the Cop Shop they say I’m in the wrong place…I hafta go to City Hall! OK…I walk the two blocks to City Hall, but once there and after waiting fifteen minutes in line, the Town Clerk (a snottier jerkoff you will never meet!) tells me it’s the Police who approve all film permits and besides, it takes three days and there is a $700 fee!!! I explain my situation and that I’m not shooting a ‘Film’ and that I’m working for a magazine, not Dreamworks, but he could give a rat’s ass…he ain’t budging. So one more trip back to Cops where, you guessed it, they shoot me down in flames!
So the photo of Bo that sits at the top of this post is all I have to show of the dump beautiful town that is Hoboken!!! I suppose that if that asshole Town Clerk sees this, I just might get a bill for $700 since, technically, I did shoot there, but I’ll take my chances and simply avoid Hoboken for the rest of my time on Earth!
I’m Gonna Be Teaching At Santa Fe…
Mark your calendars kids, ‘cuz in July Mr. Damn Ugly is gonna be jetting off to teach a workshop at the Santa Fe Photographic Workshops! Reid Callanan, the High Priest of Santa Fe, has invited Ronnie Weil and I to teach a week-long program called ‘The Editorial Portrait’…..an intensive class that will let us show a group of young photographers what it takes to shoot for an editorial client. We’re still figuring out the curriculum, but I’m getting tired already! I figure by the end of the week, if the students don’t have a very good idea of what it takes to be an editorial portrait shooter, they never will! The week will be a non-stop cycle of shooting and critiquing work…every day new assignments are given out and the students have to adapt immediately and come back with great imagery. I’m looking forward to kicking some young photographer ass!!!
The fun begins July 4th and you can read all about our workshop HERE!
The NYTimes & Kickstarter…
Just last week, Kate Tucker put out a call on Kickstarter to help her fund the release of ‘White Horses’, her next album, and now The New York Times has a story about websites like Kickstarter, SellaBand and PledgeMusic and how indie acts are using them to get their projects off the ground.
So if you haven’t checked out Kate’s video yet, follow THIS LINK and toss her a few bucks. In less than a week she’s already pulled in $2150.00 of her $5000.00 target, but we gotta keep this going. I know some of you have already kicked in a few bucks, and I’m gonna try my best to not get all Public-Access-Pledge-Drive on you and hold any feet to the fire, but I know how many people are reading this and I also know a lot of you could dip into your mocha latte budget and help out and it ain’t exactly gonna hurt your bottom line…
iPad…Day Two…
Thank God for the BlendTec Total Blender, Tom Dickson and the fabulous folks at ‘Will It Blend’…
Dont’cha just love the interweb?!!
iPad…Day One…
Have we really reached the point in human existence where this is what kids think of new technology?!!
On the other hand, even though it cost ’em 500 bones, I guess the little bastards are YouTube Superstars…
Son of a Bitch!
I just watched Lost…got me thinkin’ that maybe the writers fall back on some of the same themes a bit too often…
Song of the Day – Kate Tucker Sings for Her Supper!
I’m tag-teaming a Song of the Day along with a bit of good, old fashioned log-rolling today. The song is a previously unreleased acoustic version of ‘On The Radio’ Kate Tucker and Mark Isakson layed down for Seattle’s Bumbershoot festival last year. The log-rolling is explained below…..
Kate has finished recording White Horses, her new solo album, but she need a bit of help. Being an indie artist often means little details like coming up with the last few bucks to press CD’s, promote the album and loading up the tour bus sometimes force her to employ extraordinary measures…in this case, hit up folks on the internet for whatever they might be able to contribute! Kate has put together a Kickstarter Funding Video…complete with ‘prizes’…in order to raise the final $5000.00 she needs to put White Horses to bed. If you toss her a few measly bucks you can get a signed CD and a bit of good Karma…for 50 bones she’ll unlock the vault and give you her bootlegs from her first album, the out of print Eros Turannos, and a few more goodies…$500 and she’ll record an acoustic version of any of her songs, dedicate it to you, post it on YouTube, and send you an exclusive mp3…..and for you seriously High Rollers, a grand will get Kate to play a concert for you and 40 of your closest & dearest friends (!)…two grand and she’ll sing for you, and cook you dinner and get you drunk (!!)…and if somebody were to kick in the whole five grand…well, I think it goes without saying that if anybody hits that target, Kate’s gonna have a friend for life!!! (Or it means she sold herself into slavery…I’m not quite sure…..)
I’m asking all of the friends of The List to head over to ‘Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is! Kate Tucker Sings for Her Supper!’ and watch the Kickstarter video…and if you can, show her a little love. And then pass it along to a few friends. It’s a lot more interesting than those damned LOLCats videos that keep filling up my inbox! And let’s be honest…the more true artists like Kate out there might mean we have to endure less of Lady GaGa…!!!
Check out more of Kate Tucker on MySpace
Damn Ugly Photography 