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Saturday, August 20, 2005

What is the plot fo the film Class in which Rob Lowe and Andrew McCarthy starred? Jonathan is sent by prep-school roommate Skip to a Chicago bar to meet a girl and gain sexual experience. He is picked up by Ellen and has an affair with her. Over Thanksgiving weekend at the Burroughs' estate, he discovers that Ellen is Skip's mother.

Wow, the movie Class has its own entry in Wikipedia...

When I first saw the film I considered its title related to the fact that the two main characters are members of a particular school year, you know, like "Class of 88" or whatever. But then I thought that the title might also have to do with class as in "class difference"--that they are members of the upper class?... Nah. That's just what I may want to read: Burroughs: "Jonathan, you and I have something in common. Can you guess what that might be?"

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Friday, August 19, 2005

Andy certainly did justice to Diana Ross's concert. The image of him covered in mud and considering the moment "like a war zone" is awesome. Mud=war. The rain.

Other accounts that may due justice to the mud: Everything was going well. The central tennis court of ENQELAB Sports Complex was filled with young enthusiasts. A video clip was projecting onto the huge screen installed above stage. Attendants were becoming excited. Their favorite band was about to take the stage, for the first time since last July in Tehran. Finally, band members showed up and greeted the crowd, many of which had gone through much to obtain tickets for the concert. Not five minutes later, lightening struck, followed by a thunder clap that drowned the cheers. A hail storm broke. Everyone took cover. Within a few minutes no one could be seen in the stadium.

The hope: The Sydney Festival's decision to move its free concert series away from the city was thwarted by yesterday's big wet, with organisers abandoning Jazz in Parramatta Park

In Philly they know wassup with the rain, they apparently foresee alternative locations for concerts just in case it pours: Soundbite Sidewalk Concert Series, Bell Atlantic Tower, 1717 Arch Street Rain Location: Reading Terminal Market

Quite common to have alternate spaces to stay dry: The series has been produced by the Morgan Arts Council since 1987. Rain location for the free concert is the lake building at Cacapon.

Too bad they could not pull it off with Diana Ross's concert. It was the lightning, Andy said.

As to Rob Lowe, man, I never thought I'd see him playing a role in a movie like Austin Powers'sThe Spy who Shagged me. There is a trend for former "studs" to play against their own auras. Roger Moore problematized his Bond persona when he played a gay man in the movie Boat Trip with Cuba Gooding Jr. Awful movie, beyond excuses.

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Thursday, August 18, 2005

Well, I just commented on Staying Alive not too long ago. Couple of days actually. At the end of that comment I did mention what "staying aive" stands for today: HIV/AIDS affects us all.There are more than 40 million people living with HIV/AIDS all over the world and more than 11 million of those are aged between 15 and 24. Most don't know that they are carrying the HIV virus.

The reason for an organization to take on the name of "staying alive" has several connotations running behind it. For one, it obviously refers to a movie made in the 1980s about a person who was part of the disco scene in the 1970s. It was during the 80s when Tony, Travolta's character, had to come to terms with his past and try to do something with himself, while still doing what he loved most, dance. But the disco dancefloor is gone in the movie. The only way for the disco-dancer to dance during the 80s without being reprimanded with stereotypes was on stage, in a make believe world, where good and evil come and go.

As it is well known, Disco was largely a gay scene. This we can learn from the great accounts of DJ history in Last Night a DJ Saved my Life, as well As DJ Culture. And AIDS as it is commonly known has hit the gay communities quite hard. This is very obvious in Andy's diary when he calls the disease "gay cancer." But he eventually learns that it is actually AIDS. We notice this in the diaries when he speculates on Calvin Klein repeatedly. So the term Staying Alive for a website that deals with aids is quite appropriate, because it links the non-profit organization to a community that found a great form of expression in the 70s and was closely connected to the Disco scene, something that Saturday Night Fever and Staying Alive mythologize for better or for worse by carefully repressing the influence of the community which in large part was its fuel. Brilliant name. Heavy.

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Wednesday, August 17, 2005

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Tuesday, August 16, 2005

The son of Sidney Poitier. As it is well known the "real life" story rocked the artworld in the eighties, and Andy was also part of it as we can see in his diary.

The scoop moving towards mythology: Six Degrees of Separation. Based on an actual incident in which a young African American claimed to be actor Sidney Poitier's son, the play explores the American cult of celebrity. A well-off Manhattan couple invite the young man into their home and are taken in by his compelling stories. They want to believe him as much as he wants to fool them. In the play Guare satirizes liberal guilt and the isolation and dullness of modern urban life.

And how such a play adapted to film has been absorbed in... Bangkok announced confirmation of bird flu only when the first Thai died of it on January 23.

"What we found is that we learned of this [virus] too late ... it means that it is too late to save lives," Jakrapob said.

Asked whether any officials would be fired for failing to detect or reveal the spread of the disease, Jakrapob replied: "I would like to refer to a movie that I like very much. A few years ago, there was a movie, a very good movie, called Six Degrees of Separation. It was about a black man who fell into the world of elite white people in the United States, and that man could be there only because he pretended to be Sidney Poitier's son. So being black but being Sidney Poitier's son did the job for him that put him among all these elites in the New England side of the United States of America.

What's the story behind the story, though? David Hampton was born in Buffalo in 1964, the eldest child of an attorney. Star-struck, and unhappy with the parochial climate in Buffalo, he arrived in New York in 1981, to seek his fortune as an artist. One night in 1983, he and a friend were trying to get into Studio 54. Unable to gain entry, Hampton's friend decided to pose as Gregory Peck's son, while Hampton assumed the identity of Sidney Poitier's son. They were ushered in as celebrities.

The play is born: John Guare is a friend of two of the duped hosts – Osborn and Inger Elliott, who were outraged to find the "celebrity" in bed with another man the following morning. Reading every newspaper report he could about the cases, Guare thought that this young man -- so obsessed with the creation of celebrity -- would be the ideal subject for a play. He was particularly fascinated by the notion of "who we let into our lives." Six Degrees of Separation, opened at Lincoln Centre in May 1990, and was an immediate, becoming a long-running, success.

The real Hampton shows up to cash-in: In the fall of 1991, Hampton, filed a $100 million lawsuit for civil damages -- his share of Guare's profits -- claiming that the play had stolen the copyright on his persona and his story. In April 1992, the State Supreme Court ruled that he was not entitled to damages. He appealed, and the lawsuits finally came to a closure in July 1993 when five judges of the New York Appellate Division upheld the 1992 ruling that Hampton was not due any civil damages.

Andy was good. Really good. He saw right through the kid.

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Monday, August 15, 2005

The potential of a beauty: Brooke Shields has always remained an enigma in Hollywood. Though she has all the traits of a starlet with a promising acting career before her, she never materialized into a box office draw, or one of the leading actresses of her generation.

What she is mainly remembered for (at least this is a constant reference): In 1980, she starred in the controversial movie, "The Blue Lagoon" because the character she played appears nude, but Brooke wasn't old enough for that. There was a body double of course, but she shocked people even more when a teenage Brooke appeared in the infamous Calvin Klein jeans commercial.

The "infamous jeans": Product: Jeans Source: Unknown Date Published: 1980 Models include: Brooke Shields's

What Brooke said: Ever aware of the power of the provocative, Klein introduced the brand with the now-infamous Brooke Shields ads, featuring the young model uttering, "Nothing comes between me and my Calvins."

Like other celebrities, she has been stalked: Add actress Brooke Shields to the long list of celebrities haunted by psycho stalkers. Twice-convicted felon Mark Ronald Bailey, 41, was carrying a handgun when he recently followed and harassed the 34-year-old actress, according to this criminal complaint filed January 25 in Los Angeles Municipal Court. But would this be a "small price to pay" when a fan is devoting all free server space on geocities to the beauty? I have been given 3 additional megs by geocities. I have put this space to use by adding more Brooke Shields pictures. There are now 7 more galleries, and 63 more pictures available. Check it out. I may also be adding a multimedia section, with various Brooke Shields multimedia. I will see if I have space.First off, I've finally gotten rid of that annoying java script error, thanks for baring with me.In an effort to expand the site even more, I've now got a Brooke Shields Message Board online,talk about anything you want Brooke Shields related. I'm sure there's alot of you out there whoknow about her then me, so feel free to post any information on there that I failed to mention.Also, on the ongoing debate of Brooke Shields height.... I have got differing informationfrom a variety of sources. All I can safely say is Brooke Shields is somewhere from 5'10"to 6 feet tall.

From art dirt to plain celebrity dirt:

Nude photos of Brooke, taken by photographer Garry Gross, when Shields was 10, were displayed in Manhattan's American Fine Arts Gallery, September 10th, 1998. The actress had sued Gross in 1981, tearfully testifying that the pics embarrassed her, but a court decision in 1983 gave Gross the okay to display the photos.

Listed as one of twelve "Promising New Actors of 1978" in John Willis' Screen World, Vol. 30.

Started her career in a TV commercial for Ivory soap.

Chosen as Time magazine's Face of the '80s.

Princeton graduate in French literature.

Her grandfather was Francis Shields, a professional tennis player.

While filming the Blue Lagoon, she had to have her hair glued to her breasts so nothing would show.

Appeared in the music video and sang in the choir on the song "Voices That Care."

Dated Michael Bolton (II), Michael Jackson, Liam Neeson,John Kennedy Jr.

Became engaged to writer/producer boyfriend Chris Henchy on 15 July 2000 whilst on vacation in Mexico.

Has a tattoo of her fiance's name on her ankle (Chris).

Chosen as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world by People Magazine in 2000 and 1996.

Chosen as one of the most intriguing people of the year by People Magazine in 1996, 1980 & 1978.

Appeared on the cover of the 1977 album "Magic is a Child" by the progressive rock group Necktar.

The music group Blondie's 1978 album "Parallel Lines" contains the song "Pretty Baby," written about Brooke Shields.

In 1981, the New Jersey-based music group The Jitters released a single titled "All the girls want to look like Brooke Shields," which was a minor alternative radio hit.

Between the years of 1980 and 1985, she appeared on more than 250 magazine covers internationally.

Personal quotes

Brooke's reply to mature roles, offered to her when she was 15 years old: "What does 'good in bed' mean to me? When I'm sick and stay home from school watching TV and my mom brings me soup - that's good in bed."

Brooke's joking comment on her TV commercials for jeans: "If my jeans could talk, would I be embarrassed?"

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Sunday, August 14, 2005

What came after the Fever... When John Travolta showed up in Staying Alive, I saw him as a victim of the Stallone workout syndrome. He was so cut up--I mean, his six pack was working over time; he was so hard and slim--the boy be tight. He did look good, like a dancing Rocky. In fact I expected Travolta to thow a punch any time throughout the movie. Staying alive also made obvious how the media--the Hollywood media, that is--was reflecting upon the 70s. Obviously, the 70s were definitely "over" and people had to move on. This is what Tony (Travolta's dancing character) did in the eighties by struggling as a professional modern dancer. Staying Alive ain't bad, actually; like Andy, I also like it. It has a sense of nostalgia, of longing for the good old days. Funny thing is that the movie came out during the eighties, a time that is now the good old days for my own generation; this is the time when Turntablism was solidified as an artform on the ones and twos: Although turntablism itself is a relatively new word the skills at its heart are as ancient as hip hop itself. Back in the 70s, before rap stars were pop stars and Nelly was still an elephant, the DJ was king and innovator supreme. He was GRANDMASTER FLASH, the rappers were just the Furious Five.
Break-dancing was also born: Breakdancing, also known as "breaking" by its practitioners and followers, is a dynamic style of dance that is part of Hip Hop culture and emerged out of the Hip-Hop movement in the South Bronx of New York City during the late 20th century. Breakdancing is one of the many elements of Hip Hop culture. This unique form of dancing is very acrobatic and creative. Breakdance has been performed in countless shows, music videos and at dance clubs.

I fell victim to both activities and still carry the thread in various ways. That's two decades ago! time flies.

But it is important to note what the term "staying alive" stands for today: Staying Alive was set up in 1998 to provide vital information on HIV/AIDS prevention and to campaign against discrimination. Protect yourself by learning more and find out how you can play a part in the global fight against HIV/AIDS.

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