Last time on Dance Moms, it was the last of the five hour episodes, which, thank the hundred little gods! [Read more…] about Dance Moms Recap: An Eclectic Celebration of Dance
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by David Baxter
Last time on Dance Moms, it was the last of the five hour episodes, which, thank the hundred little gods! [Read more…] about Dance Moms Recap: An Eclectic Celebration of Dance
by Peter Foy
Well here it is, the first film of 2013 that I was really anticipating. I had been following The Place Beyond the Pines for some time, due to the considerable amount of pedigree surrounding the project. I was really impressed by Derek Cianfrance’s last feature Blue Valentine, and I was overjoyed when I heard that he would be re-casting Ryan Gosling (potentially my favorite working actor) for this project. The early reviews remarked on how epic the film felt in that it’s storyline spanned generations, and it also happened to be a crime film, which is my go-to genre for film. All of this was enough to have me readily follow the movie until it’s release, and then I was fortunate enough to catch an advanced preview screening of this film at BAM this week. I can now say that The Place Beyond the Pines is a better-than-average drama that occasionally feels rather unique and profound. Thing is, I really wanted it to be a great modern crime film, and it’s not quite that.
The Place Beyond the Pines is set in Schenectady, New York, and begins its ambitious storyline during the mid 1990s. The first third of the movie focuses almost entirely on Ryan Gosling’s character, Luke Glanton, a tattooed metal head who makes a living as a motorcyclist performer at carnivals. When Glanton discovers that an old flame of his, Romina (Eva Mendes), has giving birth to his child since last they met, he immediately decides to quit his job, reside in Schenectady, and try and support his child. Unfortunately, Romina has moved on and has a new man in her life now. Still, Glanton is determined to provide for his child, and starts to rob banks in order to get money. His actions eventually cross paths with police officer Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper), and carries out into the lives of all the film’s characters for years to come.
To say anymore about the film’s plot would be giving away too much (I already fear that this review will do just that), but let’s just say this film has enough story to fill at least three movies. Showing ambition towards a project is never a bad thing, but it certainly can be tricky to master. Derek Cianfrance says that he and his co-writer Ben Coccio went through several dozen drafts of the film’s script, and then had an arduous task of cutting it to a reasonable length(the original cut was reportedly about three and a half hours). It’s hard to fault the film for overreaching, as it carries a timeless theme about fathers-and-sons, and suggests how important it is that they both have one another in life. At its best, the film feels quite resounding, but there are a few crucial elements that seem to have been left on the cutting room floor.
For one, the film is very clearly broken up into three sections, all three of which feel a bit different from each other. After getting off to a rousing start in the film’s first third, it actually mellows out a bit for the second part. This part of the film focuses on Bradley Cooper character’s life as a police officer, and while it isn’t uninteresting, the character doesn’t hold the screen like the electrifying Gosling did in the film’s first third. It slows down the film’s momentum a bit, and I feel that a more consistent state of tension was intended by the film makers. The film’s final part is a bit more interesting than the second (at least it was for me), but it focuses on two new characters (played by Dane DeHaan and Harris Yulin) that don’t quite get the character development they need in order to really resonate with the audience. There’s also a sense of repetition in this final act, and many of the film’s secondary characters (played by actors such as Rose Bryne, Ben Mendehlsohn, and even Ray Liotta) come off as a bit underused. It all adds up to an ending that some might find poetic, but others might decry as predictable.
So yeah, The Place Beyond the Pines has a flimsy arc, but that shouldn’t keep you from seeing it. Derek Cianfrance is clearly on his way to being seen as an A-list director, and he gives this film the same sense of grit and humanism that made Blue Valentine such a stellar indie picture. The film has a very natural feel to it, and he finds ways to shoot visceral action/chase sequences without coming off as stylized. His empathy for his characters is so observant, and it’s best communicated through Gosling’s performance. Once again, the formidable actor has added a great deal of weight to this picture through his acting ability. His character says relatively little throughout his limited screen time, but his expressions and mannerisms make us find sympathy in this brutish loner. The first act of The Place Beyond the Pines does indeed shine the brightest, and mainly because it’s the section that focuses on Luke the most, and it has the best action set pieces.
It’s decidedly a flawed film, but the film making, ambition, and performances are enough to make me kindheartedly recommend it. Over the last few weeks I’ve heard a few people say that they feel the movie looks like a Drive clone. Those expecting Drive will be particularly disappointed as it’s no where near as stylized or original as Nicholas Winding Refn’s masterpice. I also find it a shallow comparison, as besides minute surface details, I didn’t think the movie looked anything like Drive in the previews. Regardless, The Place Beyond the Pines should appeal to most audiences, and it raises my hopes as to what Cianfrance will do next.
by Ryan Shea
Despite the bitter cold weather we’ve been experiencing in New York, Summer is right around the corner! And with Summer weather comes a new Summer wardrobe. I have started stocking up since November… And I thought I’d share the trends I think will be big this season.
My favorite item for Summer 2013 is High Waisted Denim Shorts!
I am seriously obsessed with this look. High waist jeans are flattering on almost every body type. Every retail store is stocking up on these must have shorts so, no matter your budget, there are a pair just for you. My most recent purchases have been from online sellers who customize the shorts the way you like; studs, lace, tears, etc… I love the vintage feel of this style.
You can rock these with a basic white tee or vintage band tee or with a sleek button up. Just about everything looks good with a pair of high waist shorts. Flip flops for the beach, a pair of high tops for a rocker feel, or a towering pair of platform wedges.
Speaking of floral…
Floral prints are a trend that never go out of style. And floral will be everywhere this year.
Personally, I like my florals mixed with something a little structured or hard looking. Think 90’s grunge but an updated version! Adding denim to any floral print basically gives you a vintage grunge look. A denim vest with a strapless floral summer dress or a denim shirt with floral shorts, maybe?
Now for the my color choices for this Summer (drum roll!) …
Mint and Coral!
My sister Theresa is actually the person to bring these wonderful colors into my wardrobe decisions. I have always been someone who favored the furthest ends of the light spectrum (Black and White) … Summer was always a big white season for me. I love the contrast of my tan skin against a gleaming white piece of clothing, but I have severely underestimated the subtle glow of a mint green and coral item. Because of their neutral tones these colors can be part of almost any outfit or any article of clothing.
There are so many trends that are going to be popular this Summer and I wish I could list them all but instead I’ll just post some pics of some items I think should be in every girl’s wardrobe this Summer season!
Here are some idea’s I thought looked cute for this Summer;
Feel free to comment about anything you think I should have included and stay tuned for my Swim Wear article!
Today is the beginning of upfront season, that magical time where networks make big announcements about the future of their channels in addition to what shiny new shows will hit your airwaves in the fall and what shiny old shows will get more episodes in the upcoming year.
According to Broadcast and Cable, the big news from FX is that it will expand from one channel into three. FX will continue to market to its’ 18 to 49 year old demographic, while launching spin-off channels to target both the older and younger portion of those markets. FXX (which will replace the current Fox Soccer Channel) will target younger audiences, with a focus on raunchier comedies such as The League. This network will launch in September. FXM meanwhile, will target the older viewers in the 25 to 54 year old bracket, and will focus on a robust set of movie and miniseries offerings.
The network will also have the shows to fill these precious programming hours by renewing hit series such as It’s Always Sunny, The League, Justified, Legit and Sons of Anarchy (Archer received a fifth season earlier this month as well), but also with a bevy of acquired syndicated programming including CBS’ Mike and Molly, How I Met Your Mother, to prop up the finances for its’ more critically acclaimed original programming. Particularly notable is FX’s increased willingness to get into the late night game, expanding Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell to five nights a week.
FX president John Landgraf also announced some new series such as one based on the film Fargo (the Coen brothers are confirmed to be involved on the project) and Guillermo Del’ Toro’s The Strain. FX anticipates rotating 25 original series (which is roughly the same amount of programming as the big four networks provide) through the three networks during a given year.
This decision shows the burgeoning strength of FX in the basic cable market, with only USA as a credible rival on that tier. The three channel plan almost makes the network closer in nature to the premium channel layouts of HBO, Showtime, or Starz, where multiple networks under the same branding is commonplace. Furthermore, FX’s track record has been incredibly strong over the past few years (the only flop in recent memory was Unsupervised), so expanding the network to provide more quality programming is welcomed by yours truly in the hopes that I can even further reduce the number of reality shows I have to review. It also brings FX into line with a current trend in cable, where networks tend to focus on comedy or drama but not both (as an example TBS and TNT went all comedy and drama respectively to further delineate their brands, and even a broader channel like USA tends to lean much more heavily towards drama). The massive roster of top tier talent that they are assembling for this expansion further increases the odds for success. Finally, this feels like a huge corporate coup for News Corp. as a whole, as it can turn two flailing networks (SPEED and Fox Soccer Channel) into two potentially successful networks (in Fox Sports One and FXX).
by Ryan Shea
New York City itself is known for being a prime area for some of the best events in the world. That rings true especially for events geared towards the gay community. The Black Party weekend is one of those annual events that bring men from around the world for a weekend of excitement, dancing, interesting wardrobe choices and above all a unique experience that you can’t get anywhere else in the world.
Hosted at the legendary Roseland Ballroom, the Black Party Weekend starts on Friday night and doesn’t end until around Sunday afternoon. If you are into something that is a little outside of the norm, this is the event for you. Leather and gear enthusiasts are rampant at all of the events, as well as some of the most known names in the gay adult industry.
It starts out on Friday night around 7PM with the Black Party Expo. This gets the weekend going, with several different vendors promoting their fascinating lines. Whether it is a gay app that is hot right now (Recon, Mister), the best M4M night in the world (Adonis), or some of the biggest gay adult websites online right now (Cocky Boys, Lucas Entertainment) there was something for everyone there. It was set up with a fantastic light display that encompassed the look of a Ferris Wheel. It was something that I could definitely tell was going to be in heavy use for the party itself.
That same night was where The Hookie awards took place. This event was designed for rentboy.com, a site devoted to the personal enjoyment of a fellow gentleman. Hosted by Rupaul’s Drag Race season 4 winner Sharon Needles and comedian Cole Escada, the awards were presented in full to some well known names in the adult industry (Austin Wolff, Trenton Ducati, Rafael Alencar) and some of the biggest members on Rentboy. Some of the presenters included well known journalists like Paper Magazine Editor-In-Chief Mr. Mickey and Village Voice writer Michael Musto. The awards itself had some really great names to them (Best Top, Best Boyfriend Fantasy, etc) and above all everyone seemed to have a great time. Sharon and Cole did an amazing job themselves, and as a personal fan of Sharon’s it was great to see her perform live and prove why she won season 4.
The next days events were similar to Friday nights. There was an extended version of the expo that lasted from 12-7pm, so if you weren’t able to make it there Friday you had all day to see what the vendors were selling and get to meet and greet some of your favorite stars. Saturday night is what everyone was there for- The Black Party. I had a ton of friends who went, and said they had a great time. Some really unique performances took place but above all the music kept everyone going through the night into Sunday morning.
If you ever get a chance to have a once in a lifetime experience and you are local or visiting the New York City area, stop by next year’s Black Party weekend. It is one that you don’t want to miss!
William Shakespeare once wrote, “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances…” If the world is truly a stage then the people of New York City are at the very center of it. The human story that unfolds here daily is so rife with drama that it fairly swallows you up as soon as you leave your front door to wade into it. As shown here, just by going a few blocks in any direction you can encounter: creativity, romance, sadness, ingenuity, desperation, heroism, despair, and solemn determination. Each New Yorker contributing an equal amount to City’s story. Walt Whitman summed it up best by saying, “The question, O me! so sad, recurring—What good amid these, O me, O life?
Answer.
That you are here—that life exists, and identity;
That the powerful play goes on, and you will contribute a verse.”
by Ryan Shea
Out of frustration that I was stuck home last night due to circumstances (babysitting my nephew. Cute yes, on a Saturday night not so much), I was flipping through my channels when I saw that MTV was doing a Real World marathon of their three biggest seasons (New York Season 1, San Fransisco Season 3 and Las Vegas Season 12). They hashtagged it with #retroMTV, and where as I don’t see Vegas being so retro the other two were and so much more. Vegas was on last night, and it was a great reminder of how great the show used to be yet somehow I see Vegas as the one that made that show “jump the shark” because they spent every season afterwards sexualizing the program as opposed to making it about 7 strangers who were trying to co-exist in one place. There is a difference there.
Today they are doing what is still considered by so many people as the best season of Real World- San Fransisco. The third season of this iconic show portrayed two of its most polarizing characters in Pedro Zamora, and David “Puck” Rainey. Two completely different men in so many ways yet made the show fascinating with their unique viewpoints and how they got to the life they had at that time in 1994. Puck was considered to be the zany outcast of the group, getting arrested on his way to going to the house and doing a number of unpredictable acts such as putting his fingers in the peanut butter as one. Something by that standards could be on Nick Junior today and no one would blink an eye, but twenty years ago this was considered ground breaking in a variety of ways.
Pedro Zamora on the other hand, couldn’t have been more of a stark opposite.
An avid educator on AIDS, he was shown throughout the show doing his lectures about his condition and how others can prevent it. Him and Sean Sasser also made headlines as one of the first gay couples to be seen on a national spotlight and in such a frank and open manner. They would up getting engaged and had a commitment ceremony in the loft that Zamora and his castmates were living in for the show.
Sadly, Zamora wound up passing away only a couple of months after filming ended on November 11th, 1994. Since his passing, he was acknowledged for his tireless efforts as an AIDS crusader by former President Bill Clinton and had several organizations named in his honor as well.
So why does he remain relevant today? It’s simple. To put it in terms only I can, Pedro stood up and spoke loud and clear about a disease that was killing millions when others cowarded and avoided the topic due to their own personal feelings about homosexuals and AIDS itself. He knew the uphill battle that he had to face and took it head on and instead of retreating and living out the rest of his life in silence he broke the mold and spoke his piece in a time where this disease was a major death sentence and viewed as globally in a terrible manner. He made people wake up and educate themselves, something that a lot of people are still having a hard time doing today.
Quite frankly, he should’ve been nominated and awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize that year. He brought a nation together and gave them an understanding of what he was going through so that each person themselves could get a better judgement on what the disease was and that beyond the disease there is a human being attached to that person. There is more to a person than HIV. He is and forever will be in people’s minds seen as a hero and he is one of mine as well for so many different reasons.
by Rio Toro
David Bowie: The Next Day
Similar Artists: David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie
Genre: David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie, David Bowie
Label: Columbia
Deciding to write music reviews was the worst decision I ever made. There is nothing more torturous to me than constantly thinking “how can I put this into words” while listening to new music. I can already see what will happen if I decide to (properly) write a review of this album, so instead, I am going to talk about something that is much more important. So if you have listened to this album, (most of you should have by now) you have surely formulated your own opinions and I hereby deem them worthy. There is no reason for you to hear my opinion.
We need to wipe our minds clear of this elitist system of pseudo intellectualism. I have read a lot of reviews in my day and they are all garbage. They all say the same exact thing, which is, “I have a really good taste in music, and that is why this music is blah, blah, blah. If we were really all that smart we would know the fact that music isn’t meant to be put into words. Many critics feel they could bypass this aspect through skilled penmanship and a keen ear, but unfortunately, we were dead wrong.
Everyone hears music differently, so how can one sequence of notes be considered “better” than another. I have tried to rid my reviews of the hierarchical rating scale, but that has only slightly alleviated the problem. Who am I to tell you what music is good or bad? I don’t have your brain, so I surely wouldn’t know what makes it tick. Sure, on my short time on this earth I have listened to quite a lot of music, but lately I feel that that just makes me a pretentious snob rather than a higher authority on the topic. As a means towards putting a stop to this vile and rudimentary system of opinion-as-fact, I have decided to post a censored version of my album review which shall not influence your view on this album in any way.
————————————————————————————————–
…………… David Jones ……………………….. Comeback Album …………………. Mod …………………..…… Space Oddity ……….…… Ziggy Stardust ……………………. Iggy Pop ….….……………………. Sex …………………………. Fashion ………………………Spiders From Mars ……… Record Label …..……………………………………… Sound & Vision ………………………………………………… Thin White Duke ……………….……………………………………. Bisexual ……………………………………. Album Cover ………………………. Glam,Glam,Glam ……………………… Reinvention ……………………. Buddhism …………. Drugs, Drugs, Drugs ……… Berlin Trilogy …… Brian Eno …………………….…………………… Low ………………………. Heroes ….. Tony Visconti ………………………………….. Scary Monsters ……………………… Man Who Fell To Earth …………………… Starman …………… Heart Surgery …….……………. The Next Day ………………………. Scott Walker ………………………………………………….. End.
Track Listing:
1.) The Next Day
2.) Dirty Boys
3.) The Stars (Are Out Tonight)
4.) Love is Lost
5.) Where Are We Now?
6.) Valentine’s Day
7.) If You Can See Me
8.) I’d Rather Be High
9.) Boss of Me
10.) Dancing out in Space
11.) How Does the Grass Grow
12.) (You Will) Set the World on Fire
13.) You Feel so Lonely you could Die
14.) Heat
by Peter Foy
Alright, I’ll admit it right here at the start: I went into Spring Breakers with a bit of a biased attitude towards it due to my feelings about director Harmony Korine. While I do admire the film maker as his entire movie career has been based around making incendiary arthouse releases, I also fell that all of his films have been missed opportunities. His films (such as Kids and Gummo) have always attempted to be stirring social commentaries, but are rendered useless due to the fact that Korine is more interested in focusing on depravity and graphic content, rather than on addressing the difficult questions he brings up. Still, despite my prior knowledge to Korine’s work, it’s hard for me to imagine having liked Spring Breakers anymore than I did had I not. The simple matter is that Korine hasn’t so much made a movie here, rather than an on-screen imitation of a drug binge spent watching MTV and pondering American society’s popularization of excess. The worst part is though, I don’t actually think that’s a bad concept at all.
The film’s plot is skeletal, but it’s there. It’s about four college-age girls played by Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Vanessa Hudgins, and Rachel Korine (yes, she is the director’s wife), who inexplicably decide to commit a crime so they can afford a spring break vacation. Afterwards, they travel to Florida where they take part in the ugly party culture there, before they are arrested. Fortunately for our protagonists, however, they are soon bailed out when a career criminal (James Franco) takes interest in the four-some. Next thing you know, he’s got himself a group of bikini clad thugs to help him take down the mandatory rival drug lord (Gucci Mane).
The advertising for Spring Breakers has been making the movie look like a crime film with hot chicks, but this isn’t really that kind of film at all. Harmony Korine gives the film what he terms a “liquid” narrative, and there’s virtually no scenes in the movie that could be called straight. Pretty much every scene is montage-esque, filled with hyper-stylized editing that showers the viewers with images (not necessarily in chronological order), and usually accompanied by bizarre narration or ironic use of pop music. It’s a tactic that was perhaps used to mirror the music video raised generation that the film is showcasing, the thing is…it’s almost immediately overwhelming!
It’s no secret that Spring Breakers already has an out there concept, and one that immediately got the attention of media circuits once they heard that Korine had cast Disney Channel starlets for it. I just feel that it was unnecessary than for Korine to use such an experimental narrative for the film, as isn’t it strange enough that we’re watching a film about a dread-locked James Franco employing a bunch of hot-bodied young girls to perform crimes for him? The added layer of weirdness comes off as pretentious and frankly annoying.
Worse though, Korine once again fails to give empathy towards his characters or world. Right from the start, Spring Breakers depicts it’s characters as vulgar and shallow miscreants (that also happen to love Brittney Spears), and they only get worse. Korrine tries to suggest they have glimmers of humanity in a few scenes that see the four girls playing in their dorm hallways while bathed in a bright white light, or inserting a few shots that show them embrace Franco’s character. It ultimately falls on deaf ears though, as none of it is developed in a way that makes us care for these girls, who are doing really fucked up things 95% of the film’s running time. The film’s climax is also predictable, and implies that Korrine really doesn’t know the first thing about story payoff, or perhaps doesn’t care in the first place.
As mentioned before, the film’s casting is certainly interesting, but there are some disappointments here as well. The film’s saving grace could have been in Selena Gomez’s character, who is actually frightened by the criminal acts she sees her friends perform. She could have been the human notion that the film really needed to communicate (assuming Gomez could give a convincing performance), but the character is all but abandoned before the film’s third act. James Franco turns out to be the film’s highlight, though. He was obviously cast as such a vile character due to his public persona as a sweet-natured young man with an established taste for the fine arts. We see the character take part in all sorts of aberance such as using the term “double-penetration”, or performing oral sex on hand guns, but behind the grit there’s still the awareness that this is the guys who is also starring in Oz: The Great and Powerful. An interesting tactic, and one that should have been applied to more screen time for the character, as Franco gives plenty of bravura in his performance, along with a sprinkling of his nice-guy nature.
On one hand, there is a part of me that doesn’t understand why I disliked this film. Some of my favorite films of the last few years, like Drive and The Master, have proven so intoxicating for me in the way that they acted as mainstream films while still using a highly unconventional narrative structure and leaving plenty of story gaps. Those two films, however, gave the viewer enough material to grasp some inkling as to why the characters were motivated the way they were, and never felt excessive or showy in their style of film making. Spring Breakers is a fine example on how delicate the blending of indie/commercial sensibilities are, and that film makers really need to be aware of when it’s time to say no. Had Harmony Korine given his film a more familiar story structure (perhaps even finding a veteran crime fiction writer to collaborate on the script with him), Spring Breakers really could have been the potent piece of social commentary he was aiming for, and even retained all it’s sex, drugs and violence. Instead, it’s a film more likely to leave viewers leaving the theater befuddled, infuriated, or just plain exhausted
Thursday morning became a hotbed for rumors about the future of NBC pillar The Tonight Show. It seems that for the second time in five years, the Peacock is finding the least graceful way to handle the impending departure of Jay Leno (a decision that nearly killed the network five years ago, and a decision that the network is more than willing to make again).
The first piece of news was that with Jimmy Fallon’s anticipated ascension to the late-night throne, The Tonight Show would return to New York for the first time in four decades. According to the New York Times, NBC is apparently already in the process of building the set at their Rockerfeller Center studios in anticipation of a 2014 transition, with fall of 2014 being the latest possible date for such a transition. I am entirely in favor of such a move, if only because the idea of NBC’s four most venerable institutions (Today, The Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live, and the NBC Nightly News) in one building just feels correct.
In turn, this transition has also managed to cause Leno to slowly open fire on NBC in his recent monologues, including making constant mentions of how NBC has managed to dip to lower rankings than Spanish language Telemundo, making it the number five network in America. This in turn prompted an angry email from NBC head honcho Robert Greenblatt demanding that Leno stop bringing up that embarrassment on air. Needless to say, Leno has continued mining NBC for fodder since the email was sent. Personally, (and very rarely do I do this) I have to take Leno’s side in this kerfuffle. Mocking the network president is a time honored television tradition (and about 1/3 of the jokes in the entire seven season run of 30 Rock). If you don’t want to be fifth or have people point out you’re fifth, maybe I would stop putting out shows like Animal Practice and Do Not Harm.
So how’s Fallon reacting to all of this? He’s being coy, saying all the right things, and generally trying to keep this succession from spiraling out of control, playing down the rumors in last night’s monologue.
What do I think overall? I think NBC needs to play their hand particularly cool, as the last time they bruised Jay Leno’s ego they eviscerated their prime-time schedule, embarrassed themselves and dug themselves a hole that they are still struggling to get out of three and a half years later. Furthermore, NBC has traditionally proven themselves inept at making the Tonight Show transition (see: Carson to Leno, Leno to O’Brien back to Leno), and being aggressive at forcing Leno out seems to create a much bumpier ride than there needs to be. People forget it took a decade of Friday guest hosts and a considerably older Johnny Carson to move him from the late-night chair. That being said, it’s probably in the best interests of NBC to move Fallon to the Tonight Show chair as soon as possible, as Late Night seems to be getting the lions share of both the advertising and the ratings stunts (Justin Timberlake week). However, I could also see it being likely that the Leno force-out is part of broader network-wide change in personnel with the ratings struggles of Today possibly forcing Matt Lauer out in the near future as well.