(Via Stereogum) I absolutely abhor Times Square. I think it is an insult to Manhattan. Even though I’ve never stepped foot inside the Times Square Virgin Records Megastore, I found it a little sad that the store is set to close. I remember seeing it during the height of TRL in the Carson Daly day. To me, it’s an icon of the teeny bopper era of the late 90s when ‘NSync was selling five million albums a week.
Even though it was probably a soulless place that wouldn’t have a lot of the records I want, it serves as a reminder of why places like CD Alley in Chapel Hill, Chaz’s Bull City Records and the now-closed School Kids are so great. It’s trite at this point to extol the virtues of the independent record shop, and the industry is certainly moving away from the physical record store. But I’m still tempted to get off my lazy posterior and finally head over to BCR to pick up those albums I’ve been wanting for a while.
With Sundance on the horizon, the film world is letting up a little of its awards coverage and turning its attention to Park City. Celebrating a quarter century, the one-time festival where careers could be made is now a celebrity-filled ski retreat honoring some great films and a lot of dreck.
So when the New York Times turned its attention to the adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ short story collection The Informers, I grew especially hesitant about the festival this year. American Psycho certainly had its cinematic merits, and The Rules of Attraction was enjoyable if you’re into morally reprehensible collegiate smut (I never saw Less Than Zero–but I do know it foreshadowed Robert Downey, Jr. in the 1990s and especially the first half of this decade). From Michael Cieply’s story:
Mr. Ellis, for his part, said he was glad to be headed toward Sundance with some on-screen sex, drugs and anomie — if only to break the festival’s current mold.
“When people tell you something’s ‘a real Sundance movie,’ that’s more negative than a compliment,” he said.
Though there might be some legitimacy to Ellis’ quote, I can’t help but wonder if his latest–even one with a “reborn” Mickey Rourke”–will amount to anything more than sex-ed up, drug-laced pulp vignettes.
In conjunction with the Nasher’s newest exhibition “Escultura Social: A New Generation of Art from Mexico City,” artist María Alós has commissioned “Welcome/Farewell” for the exhibition. It is set to be performed at the exhibiton’s Thursday, Jan. 15 opening from 5 to 7 p.m. and again Sunday, Jan. 18 at noon.
In other Nasher news, there will also be a conversation with curator Julie Rodrigues Widholm and artists María Alós, Abraham Cruzvillegas and Pedro Lasch (of “Espejo Negro” fame and soon to be featured at Branch Gallery) Thursday, Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. It is free but reservations are suggested.
Courtesy men.style.com
Men.style.com‘s week in style for last week is quite a doozy. But this photo of Jigga himself is a gem. As the writer noted, Shawn Carter looks more TV on the Radio than Rock-a-fella here. What’s most exciting though is this is Jay-Z’s chosen outfit to the Notorious premiere. Notorious–that movie about Notorious B.I.G., the king of east coast rap whose thrown Tha Carter inherited. Way to honor your predecessor, Jay.
In the tradition of many great bloggers past, GQ correspondent and traveller Scott Schuman (aka the Sartorialist) recently announced on his blog that he is having a book of his photographs published by Penguin. From the blog:
The main reason I feel so excited about this project is that Penguin will publish the book in paperback, and a special limited-edition “bespoke” version simultaneously. This was very important to me because as a photographer I wanted a beautiful book to showcase my images – but I didn’t want to do just another expensive coffee table book that would be too expensive for many of my readers. I think this creative method will be the best of both worlds.
The book is set for a September release, a small book tour will follow. Let’s hope it’s not just a rehash of what’s been on the site. But even if it was, I would probably buy it anyway.
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