«MY FAVORITE THING TO BUY IS UNDERWEAR»

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: ISLAM VS JUDAISM

Islam vs Judaism: People of one book vs people of many books.

«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

The largest users of internet porn, which is slowly draining away profits from magazines and DVD sales because so much of it is free, are between the ages of 12 and 17. And porn producers know their market is increasingly underage. "The age demographic has moved downwards, especially in the UK and Europe," explained Steve Honest, the European director of production for Bluebird Films. "Porn is the new rock and roll. Young people and women are embracing porn and making purchases. Porn targets the mid-teens to the mid-twenties and up."

Chris Hedges
Empire of Illusion

WHEN YOU'RE YOUNG...

“When you're young and good-looking and you've got a great body, you like to go to the beach and show it all off. And it's easy to make fun of everybody there who isn't so good-looking or in such great shape".

- Andy Warhol

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY:DECADE

The first decade of the 21st century is coming to an end. What great artists, musicians or writers from that decade are we going to remember? Almost none.

«SHOPPING IS MORE AMERICAN THAN THINKING»

Hedges argues that consumerism and celebrity culture have a powerful political function. "The whole fantasy of celebrity culture is not designed simply to entertain," Hedges says, but to make us politically passive.Hedges says the move from "managed capitalism" to "unfettered capitalism" over the last four to six decades - accomplished with the help of government deregulation - has refashioned America as a "corporate state run by and on behalf of corporations rather than citizens." When corporate needs trump those of citizens, Hedges said, the poor and the weak don't stand a chance.The net result of corporate power, Hedges writes in Empire, is that human beings are remade in the corporate image.

In a brilliant analysis, Hedges shows how the reality show Survivor celebrates character traits we usually associate with the mentally ill.Hedges quotes contestants who claim they have formed lifelong friendships during the show. Within minutes, the same best friends viciously turn on each other."The cult of self dominates our cultural landscape [and] . . . has the classic traits of psychopaths: superficial charm, grandiosity, and self-importance; a need for constant stimulations, a penchant for lying, deception, and manipulation; and the inability to feel remorse or guilt."As Hedges tells the reader, these are the character traits valued in corporate leaders.These leaders are "willing to consume human beings and destroy the ecosystem for the higher good of corporate profit," Hedges said.He asserts that one of our greatest illusions is that reform is possible without questioning the system itself."The structure we have inherited of unfettered capitalism and globalization is accepted as natural law . . . as inevitable," he says. Question its moral or social effects, and the typical response is: "What are you going to do? This is the way things are." But must they be that way? Hedges asks. Economic systems were made by humans and can be remade.Hedges says there is a great irony - and hypocrisy - at the heart of the current efforts to bail out failed companies.

"What is so mendacious and pernicious about this is that until these institutions collapsed, all they talked about is the market and unfettered capitalism. And when, because of their own folly, greed, and mismanagement, it collapsed, they are raiding the Treasury."We've become a socialist nation - but socialism for corporations."

-Philadelphia Inquirer
July 30 2009

«EVERYONE MUST HAVE A FANTASY»

And one for my straight guys friends & readers...

«THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT LOVES «RIGHT NOW» LIKE AMERICA DOES»

Paris Hilton warns young girls against sex tapes.

Next!

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY:MINORITY GUYS

So many minority guys on the down low now...The hottest sex. I'm against coming out day!

«I HAVE A BUSINESS TO KEEP GOING. I MEAN THE PORNO PICTURES ARE FOR A SHOW. THEY'RE WORK».

«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

Private sales compose the most opaque segment of the largely unregulated art market. The secrecy that makes these deals appealing to clients also precludes most participants from revealing any specifics about the transactions.Such deals also allow collectors to have control over prices “at the time when price points are very difficult to determine,” Dolman said. “People are happy to negotiate and walk away from a transaction” if the agreement isn’t reached, he added.Serious and seasoned collectors, who understand the advantages of buying in a depressed market, have filled the gap left by fleeing speculators.
“They want deals,” said Dorsey Waxter, director at Greenberg Van Doren gallery, which recently sold eight prints by Jasper Johns, with prices ranging from $12,000 to $350,000. “They typically have in mind a number they want to pay and are very committed to that number.”

Bloomberg
July 27 2009

“MUSCLES ARE GREAT:EVERYBODY SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST ONE THAT THEY CAN SHOW OFF"

«WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW»? : HOW ANDY WARHOL PREDICTED TWITTER

«It's exactly the same story with news about people, especially famous people. There's always a little bit of sad story: the hard, brutal struggle to the top. There's a tiny bit about hopes for the future, where the celebrity talks about the wonderful things they're going to try to do next. But the real news, the big thing, whether it's in the magazines or the newspapers or on TV is the NOW: what they're doing right now, where they live right now , who they love right now. And as soon as their now gets summed up we move immediately on to another person...and another now».

Andy Warhol.

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: HOLLYWOOD FAME

Some people don't understand why Jessica, Lindsay or Paris are famous. They say they don't produce anything. They miss the point. Lindsay or Paris are famous because THEY'RE YOUNG and not producing anything instead of OLD and doing something the young girls market don't care about anyway.

«I LIKE NEW BUILDINGS GOING UP»

Photo: DUBAI SUN TOWER

POST WARHOL PREDICTION:WOMAN MAG:HOW TO LOOK BEAUTIFUL FROM HEAD TO TOE WHEN DOING NAKED TRAMPOLINE SHOW FOR YOUR MAN!

WARHOLIAN QUOTE OF THE DAY

«I believe in censorship. I made a fortune out of it.»

Mae West

«BEAUTY IS A SIGN OF INTELLIGENCE»

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: SHOPPING

«Retail therapy» is really the best expression to describe our early 21st century.

«WASTING MONEY PUTS YOU IN A REAL PARTY MOOD»

If we are going to truly rebuild our free market capitalist system, we have to break the cycle of shock, followed by outrage, followed by a few high-profile show trials, followed by the punishment of a few culprits, followed by some meaningless reforms... and then we all move on. Until it starts again.The question is, does the political will to create and implement new rules for Wall Street exist, or will the result be a series of tough-sounding-but-ultimately-toothless reform measures that allow the cancer of greed and corruption that has infected our political and financial systems to spread and become even more destructive?Does our body politic have the strength to save itself?

-Arianna Huffington
July 28 2009

«I HAVE A BUSINESS TO KEEP GOING. I MEAN THE PORNO PICTURES ARE FOR A SHOW. THEY'RE WORK».

WARHOLIAN QUOTE OF THE DAY

«Weather forecast for tonight: dark. »

-George Carlin

«I JUST THOUGHT THAT THINGS WERE MAGIC AND THAT IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN»

NEW YORK July 27 2009 (AFP) – Merce Cunningham, the legendary New York-based choreographer who revolutionized modern dance, has died at age 90, his foundation said Monday."It is with great sorrow that we note the passing of Merce Cunningham, who died peacefully in his home last night of natural causes," the Cunningham Dance Foundation and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company said in a statement.Even wheelchair-bound by the end of his career, Cunningham was still hard at work until shortly before his death. He danced on stage right into his 80s.

«Then we were talking about Merce Cunningham and Ron (Reagan) said the piece Merce did with the helium pillows was his favorite and I told him I'd made those Silver Pillows and he said that he didn't even know that that wasn't why he'd said it».

The Andy Warhol Diaries
Sept 25 1980

YOUTH WITHOUT COCKINESS IS NO YOUTH AT ALL

Photo: Collegedudes

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY:CAP

Guys with cap: straight or gay
Guys with cap and hoodie: straight rapper or closet gay.

OH I LOVE STRAIGHT GUYS TOO!

Ours is a world where female friendships are celebrated by Oprah and the Traveling Pants and bestsellers like "The Girls From Ames." The bond between women and their hilarious gay male BFFs has been touted by, well, every romantic comedy ever made. Even gay-straight bromances get their due. But friendships between straight men and women wind up mangled by clichéd claptrap like "The Ugly Truth." Men are only interested in spreading their seed! Women are uptight prisses! And the only thing to do, of course, is to fall hopelessly in love.Frankly, I'm a little fed up with it. Some of the deepest, sweetest, most enduring friendships of my life have been with males. Men I went to college with, men I've toiled in crappy jobs with, men who stuck around long after I lost touch with the ex-girlfriends who introduced us. Guys who bartend. Guys who play in bands. Guys with black belts. Guys who make stuff with metal and soldering irons. Awesome fracking dudes. But does the radical notion of girl-on-guy friendship get its own greeting card, made-for-TV movie, or Styles section trend piece? Why do straight men so rarely get props for being good buddies?

Salon
July 27 2009

«LAND REALLY IS THE BEST ART»

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: MARKETING

The best way to sell things to people is not by telling them they should have it. It's by telling them they should have what other people won't.

«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

Madonna's latest release will cost a little more than usual and will be available in only one, curiously archaic format: microcassette."Madonna Erotic Phone Messages" will be among several lots of Material Girl-related arcana up for grabs next week in the Rock & Roll Pop Art Auction. Minimum bid: $25,000 (U.S.). That works out to about $1,470 a minute.
Contained on "two original microcassettes from Jim Albright's answering machine," the 17 minutes of messages date from 1992-1993, when Madonna was dating Albright, who was her bodyguard before becoming romantically involved with the singer.Another lot contains "a very personal and intimate amateur video taken of Madonna and a few of her castmates from the 1993 film Dangerous Games." The 15-minute VHS tape bears the titillating label "1 SNAKE EYES WIFE SWAP FOOTAGE." The minimum bid: $10,000.

-Toronto Star
July 22 2009

«MY FAVORITE THING TO BUY IS UNDERWEAR»

«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

A "man-cession." That's what some economists are starting to call it. Of the 5.7 million jobs Americans lost between December 2007 and May 2009, nearly 80 percent had been held by men. Mark Perry, an economist at the University of Michigan, characterizes the recession as a "downturn" for women but a "catastrophe" for men.Men are bearing the brunt of the current economic crisis because they predominate in manufacturing and construction, the hardest-hit sectors, which have lost more than 3 million jobs since December 2007. Women, by contrast, are a majority in recession-resistant fields such as education and health care, which gained 588,000 jobs during the same period. Rescuing hundreds of thousands of unemployed crane operators, welders, production line managers, and machine setters was never going to be easy. But the concerted opposition of several powerful women's groups has made it all but impossible. Consider what just happened with the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Last November, President-elect Obama addressed the devastation in the construction and manufacturing industries by proposing an ambitious New Deal-like program to rebuild the nation's infrastructure. He called for a two-year "shovel ready" stimulus program to modernize roads, bridges, schools, electrical grids, public transportation, and dams and made reinvigorating the hardest-hit sectors of the economy the goal of the legislation that would become the recovery act.
Women's groups were appalled. Grids? Dams? Opinion pieces immediately appeared in major newspapers with titles like "Where are the New Jobs for Women?" and "The Macho Stimulus Plan." A group of "notable feminist economists" circulated a petition that quickly garnered more than 600 signatures, calling on the president-elect to add projects in health, child care, education, and social services and to "institute apprenticeships" to train women for "at least one third" of the infrastructure jobs. At the same time, more than 1,000 feminist historians signed an open letter urging Obama not to favor a "heavily male-dominated field" like construction: "We need to rebuild not only concrete and steel bridges but also human bridges." As soon as these groups became aware of each other, they formed an anti-stimulus plan action group called WEAVE-- Women's Equality Adds Value to the Economy.The National Organization for Women (NOW), the Feminist Majority, the Institute for Women's Policy Research, and the National Women's Law Center soon joined the battle against the supposedly sexist bailout of men's jobs.

Christina Hoff Sommers

«THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT LOVES «RIGHT NOW» LIKE AMERICA DOES»

Brad Pitt says he's part atheist, part agnostic.

Next!

YOUTH WITHOUT COCKINESS IS NO YOUTH AT ALL

POST WARHOL PREDICTION: IN THE FUTURE FEMALE TEACHERS WILL HAVE GOVERNMENT PAID PLASTIC SURGERY TO KEEP MORE MALE STUDENTS AT SCHOOL

HIGH BOHEMIA

«The speed freaks and the transvestites gave way to High Bohemia: collectors and dealers and people in show bizz or café society who were lured to the Factory by sociable Fred Hughes. Hughes was determined to project a reasonably respectable image and to establish the Factory, socially as well as artistically, on the international map».

John Richardson

«I NEVER READ I JUST LOOK AT PICTURES«

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: SEX

If someone tell you that no always means no for sexual matters this person clearly know nothing about gay life.

«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

Pop Life: Art in a Material World will propose a re-reading of one of the major legacies of Pop Art. Opening at Tate Modern on 1 October 2009, the exhibition will take Andy Warhol’s notorious provocation that ‘good business is the best art’ as a starting point in reconsidering the legacy of Pop Art and the influence of the movement’s chief protagonist.The exhibition will be on view through Sunday 17 January 2010.Pop Life: Art in a Material World looks ahead to the various ways that artists since the 1980s have engaged with mass media and cultivated artistic personas creating their own signature 'brands'. Among the artists represented will be Tracey Emin, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami and Richard Prince.

HULIQ

«CHURCH IS A FUN PLACE TO GO»

«I LIKE MONEY ON THE WALL»

Francois Pinault
Art collection: $1.4 billion

French luxury goods titan (Louis Vuitton, etc) whose business empire includes auction house Christie's. His personal art collection encompasses 2,000-plus works by over 80 artists including Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian and Jeff Koons as well as new talents such as Swiss-born Urs Fischer. Displays some of his key works at his two museums in Venice: the Palazzo Grassi, which opened in 2006; and the Punta della Dogana, a former customs house that opened in June. Once told Forbes: "I am interested in art that challenges me, that disturbs the calm and reassurance of the bourgeois lifestyle."

Forbes
July 27 2009

«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

Did you know, for example, that there was a time when being called a "war profiteer" was a bad thing? But now our war zones are dominated by private contractors and mercenaries who work for corporations. There are more private contractors in Iraq than American troops, and we pay them generous salaries to do jobs the troops used to do for themselves ­-- like laundry. War is not supposed to turn a profit, but our wars have become boondoggles for weapons manufacturers and connected civilian contractors.Prisons used to be a non-profit business, too. And for good reason --­ who the hell wants to own a prison? By definition you're going to have trouble with the tenants. But now prisons are big business. A company called the Corrections Corporation of America is on the New York Stock Exchange, which is convenient since that's where all the real crime is happening anyway. The CCA and similar corporations actually lobby Congress for stiffer sentencing laws so they can lock more people up and make more money. That's why America has the world;s largest prison population ­-- because actually rehabilitating people would have a negative impact on the bottom line.

Bill Maher

“MUSCLES ARE GREAT:EVERYBODY SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST ONE THAT THEY CAN SHOW OFF"

«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

Paris Hilton insists she's not stupid—or slutty—like you may think. She claims the "Paris Hilton" we all see in front of the cameras is just a character she's invented."In a way it's good, but I also don't want people thinking of me as this blond heiress…airhead," she says in Paris, Not France, a new documentary about her life, premiering Tuesday on MTV. "But that is kind of my brand. I make a lot of money by doing that."

eonline
July 23 2009

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY:MEDIA

The future of journalism is online newspaper merging porn pictures with the content of The Economist or The Wall Street Journal.

«I HAVE A BUSINESS TO KEEP GOING. I MEAN THE PORNO PICTURES ARE FOR A SHOW. THEY'RE WORK».

«IN THE FUTURE EVERYONE WILL BE FAMOUS FOR 15 MINUTES»

In his new book, "The Peep Diaries: How We’re Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors," writer Hal Niedzviecki names this “cultural movement steeped in and made possible by technological change.” He calls it “peep culture.” Peep culture, according Niedzviecki, encompasses myriad cyber-phenomena: Peep culture is reality TV, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, MySpace and Facebook. It’s blogs, chat rooms, amateur porn sites, virally spread digital movies of a fat kid pretending to be a Jedi Knight, cell phone photos — posted online — of your drunk friend making out with her ex-boyfriend, and citizen surveillance. Peep is the backbone of Web 2.0 and the engine of corporate and government data mining.Peep culture involves watching and being watched, snooping and spying, gawking and gossiping; it means exposing our intimacies with an eye toward bonding with others and growing comfortable with the increasingly common slippage between public and private. Peep culture, like pop culture, informs the atmosphere — it is the atmosphere — in which we live. Writes Niedzviecki, “It’s like that famous line about pornography: you know it when you see it. And you do see it. All the time, everyday, everywhere.”

Salon
July 23 2009

«THE WORLD FASCINATES ME»

«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

Television’s most successful reality competitions have tackled pop-culture pursuits like singing and dancing, but Bravo has begun scouring for 13 competitors who are talented with a paintbrush.Earlier today in New York, Bravo and Sarah Jessica Parker’s production company Pretty Matches held an open casting call for “The Untitled Art Project,” a show that will ask wannabe Picassos to compete in a variety of artistic styles for a gallery show, cash and a national tour. The reality show will film in New York in September and may air sometime next year, according to casting director Nick Gilhool.Around 350 aspiring art stars turned up at the White Columns Gallery to audition before a panel of judges that included auctioneer Simon de Pury, who said he was determined not to be the show’s “mean judge.”

Wall Street Journal
July 17 2009

«THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT LOVES «RIGHT NOW» LIKE AMERICA DOES»

Madonna to release new single.

Next!

«MASS ART IS HIGH ART»

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY:PARODY

In the future it will be increasingly difficult to make a parody of women's magazines as they already turn themselves into self-parody a little more month after month.

YOUTH WITHOUT COCKINESS IS NO YOUTH AT ALL

L'ART POP ET l'ARGENT

Le pionnier de l'art Pop britannique Peter Blake disait un jour qu'il avait toujours cru que Roy Lichenstein n'avait fait fait de l'art que pour l'argent contrairement à nombres d'autres artistes Pop, Warhol y compris. Interrogé par la suite sur ce qu'il pensait d'un Jeff Koons et d'un Damien Hirst il faisait encore là une différence entre les deux. Le premier ne travaille que pour faire de l'argent le second fait de l'art autour de la notion d'argent.

«ART IS WHAT YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH»

ANDY Warhol got no respect in Canada. In his upcoming book, "Andy Warhol," art critic Arthur Danto says that when the pop-art czar created his controversial "Brillo Boxes" at the Factory, a Toronto art dealer tried to import 80 of the kitschy works. "But [he] ran into difficulty with Canadian Customs," Danto writes. "As sculpture, they would have entered duty-free, but Customs considered them merchandise and demanded an import tax of $4,000." When the government asked the National Gallery of Canada for an expert opinion, the gallery agreed: In no way were the boxes, which looked like ordinary Brillo containers, art. Today, they're worth mil lions.

New York Post
July 19 2009

«I NEVER READ I JUST LOOK AT PICTURES«

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY:SEX

Sex without stereotypes is boring sex.

«ATHLETES ARE GOING TO BE THE NEW MEDIA STARS»

LIVING IN A TEENAGE GIRL CULTURE

Although Min's predecessor, Bonnie Fuller, created much of the template of the revamped Us Weekly -- paparazzi shots and "scoops" on Hollywood hookups and breakups -- Min honed the formula and rode the undulating waves of popular taste.
When she took the helm six years ago, a celebrity was a movie star or someone with a sitcom. "Now sitcoms barely exist," says Min. "Thanks to cable television, reality TV and the Internet, the whole power structure of celebrity has shifted. It's not just that Kim Kardashian is a celebrity and nobody knows why. It's her sister, her mother. Young women in particular have forged a connection with the stars of reality TV that they don't have with Gwyneth Paltrow.

Los Angeles Times
July 21 2009

POST WARHOL PREDICTION:JEWISH WRITER: IS OBAMA HEALTH REFORM GOOD FOR THE JEWS?

SHOWING YOU HOW TO SING & DANCE LIKE RITA HAYWORTH

«It's the movies that have really been running things in America ever since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how you feel about it, and how to look how you feel about it. When they show you how to kiss like James Dean or hook like Jane Fonda or win like Rocky, that's great».

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: ARTIST

So many people call themselves artist today. What they often forget is that any real artist by definition know a lot about other arts.

«WASTING MONEY PUTS YOU IN A REAL PARTY MOOD»

Since the recession began, an estimated 2.4 million workers have lost their health care benefits.And the biggest warning sign that the natural order of things has been disturbed is how many of the very people responsible for the economic collapse not only are still in power, but are still lining their pockets with outrageous windfalls -- courtesy of the American taxpayer.
According to last week's earnings reports, Goldman Sachs posted a $3.44 billion second-quarter profit, Citigroup earned $3 billion, and Bank of America earned $2.4 billion.On top of this, Goldman Sachs just announced that it was setting aside $11.36 billion for employee compensation through the first half of the year.And AIG -- which we bailed out to the tune of $150 billion -- is apparently doing so well they're ready to set aside $235 million in bonuses.

-Huffington Post
July 20 2009

«I NEVER READ I JUST LOOK AT PICTURES«

«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

Despite the uncertain state of the economy, Billboard's midyear touring charts indicate a pattern of success that could well carry through the end of the year.And, even more so than usual, the top 25 list is dominated by acts that first achieved success a quarter century ago or more, including Madonna, Tina Turner, AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Metallica, the Dead, Neil Young, Iron Maiden and Leonard Cohen.

Billboard
July 20 2009

«I LIKE EVERYBODY'S ART»

Artwork by Claes Oldenberg

WOMEN IN REVOLT

I remember when, as editor of Marie Claire back in the early 2000s, I would first of all have to secure a star for my cover, and then I would have to ring round all the top designers to see if they would dress her. If the star was British, or edgy, or a bit fat, the designers would turn their noses up and tell me to find someone else. I remember I had a black, female contestant from the first series of Big Brother lined up for the cover, and I naively asked Giorgio Armani to dress her. 'No way,' came the reply. 'Have you tried getting Natalie Portman?' I once tried to put the singer Sade on the cover: beautiful, black, in her 40s. I was told by my publishing director that Sade was far too ancient. This for the cover of the so- called 'thinking woman's magazine'. ( Remember Vogue's Age issue, a few months back? It featured the hardly-geriatric Uma Thurman on its cover.) So much for editorial autonomy. And as for the beauty pages, they seem not to have progressed since the Seventies. In Vogue, in a piece on how to obtain a perfect posterior, is the following gem: 'A flat butt isn't much sexier than a fat butt.'

Liz Jones
Former editor of Marie Claire
Daily Mail
July 20 2009

«THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT LOVES «RIGHT NOW» LIKE AMERICA DOES»

Chris Brown apologizes for Rihanna assault.

Next!

«I HAVE A BUSINESS TO KEEP GOING. I MEAN THE PORNO PICTURES ARE FOR A SHOW. THEY'RE WORK».

«I HAVE SOCIAL DISEASE. I HAVE TO GO OUT EVERY NIGHT»

Fast-forward three decades to a hot, dark nightclub in Ibiza, where girls in gold bikinis and musclemen in tight trunks twirl around podiums and a glitterball spins overhead. An excited audience have waited until 3am to see Sister Sledge, who arrive on stage to wild applause, long-legged and glamorous as ever. They belt out Lost in Music, He’s the Greatest Dancer and We Are Family. It’s July 2009 and disco is back, baby, back. But why are people going all Saturday Night Fever now?
Lead singer Joni Sledge says that people turn to disco when the world is full of bad news, and that right now we want to hear real voices and real tunes again. When the world is burning, the glitterball starts turning. The show tonight has been organised by Carwash, the disco night that has been running in London for more than 15 years. Its promoter, Nigel Atkin, says that clubbers are sick of boring minimal techno and faceless house music; they want dirty basslines and a funky groove.

Times
July 17 2009

«THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT LOVES «RIGHT NOW» LIKE AMERICA DOES»

Perez Hilton says he's so blessed to be alive and healthy

Next!

“MUSCLES ARE GREAT:EVERYBODY SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST ONE THAT THEY CAN SHOW OFF"

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: GAY VS STRAIGHT: BARS

Straight men go to bars in their 20's and 30's and then grow up. Gay men go to bar for 20 and 30 y.o, then to different bars for 40 and 50 y.o then to others bars for 60 y.o and plus and never grow up.

WARHOLIAN QUOTE OF THE DAY

"There is nothing wrong with making love with the light on. Just make sure the car door is closed."

-George Burns

LANDSCAPE

“I′m having boys come and model for the new paintings I′m doing. But I shouldn′t call them nude. It should be something more artistic. Like Lanscapes...Landscapes″.

-Andy Warhol

«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

Rising male-model star Lyle Lodwick says women "get paid like 10 times more than the men do." This, he tells the Daily Beast, leads to obnoxious seriousness, cat fights, and other vicious behaviors."I did a show — Les Hommes in Milan — and there were two girls in the show. We were all fucking around backstage laughing and doing what we normally do and the girls were there with their jaws dropped, saying 'I can't believe you guys act this way!' They snap at each other," says Lodwick. Or, even worse: "I've heard horror stories of girls putting needles in a girl's shoes so when she's on the runway she'll fall over."

New York magazine
July 16 2009

«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

Allingham, who was the world's oldest man when he died Saturday at 113, attributed his remarkable longevity to "cigarettes, whisky and wild, wild women."

Huffington Post

«BEAUTY IS A SIGN OF INTELLIGENCE»

THE BEAUTY OBSESSION

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

-Albert Einstein 

«LAND REALLY IS THE BEST ART»

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: FRIENDSHIP

They say the best thing is for a straight girl to have a gay friend. So 20th century... In the 21st century the best thing is gay men having straight guy friends. So relaxing.

STRAIGHT GUYS IS THE NEW GAY

Photo: Sean Cody

«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

Ask any straight woman how many of her female friends she's kissed and the answer is likely to be “one or two” if not “all of them.” Ask any straight guy how many of his dude buddies he's kissed and the answer is probably going to be, “Are you out of your mind?”Katy Perry can sing “I kissed a girl and I liked it” without throwing her sexual identity into question. But as shown by the new movie Humpday , about two schlubby straight friends in their 30s who decide to sleep together for an art project, the same isn't true for men.“There's no question female sexuality is much more malleable,” says Roy Baumeister, a professor of psychology at Florida State University. “The evidence for why is not nearly as clear cut.”

-Globe & Mail
July 16 2009

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: LIVING NOWADAYS

Living in the age of nonstop marketing...

«I BELIEVE MEDIA IS ART»

POST WARHOL PREDICTION:WOMAN MAG:HOW TO KEEP YOUR LIP GLOSS SHINY & GORGEOUS WHEN LUBRICATING HIS COCK WITH YOUR MOUTH!

«THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT LOVES «RIGHT NOW» LIKE AMERICA DOES»

Britney went for a boat ride with her boys.

Next!

LANDSCAPE

“I′m having boys come and model for the new paintings I′m doing. But I shouldn′t call them nude. It should be something more artistic. Like Lanscapes...Landscapes″.

-Andy Warhol

«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

Feeling you could use some help in the 'love-making' department? Maybe a trip to Berlin's new "Amora sex academy" might be in order. Opening this past Thursday, visitors were greeted with the slogan, "Finally -- an exhibition for those who always have to touch everything.""A lot of couples come in here together to learn something," said Uta Barkow, the manager of the Beate Uhse sex chain which is hosting the academy. "It's been very well received so far. A lot of exhibits have that 'aha' effect on a lot of people."Visitors can find 50 interactive displays that encourage people to explore the intimate areas of the male and female bodies. A plastic female mannequin, for example, screams "That's it!" when visitors put their finger in her and hit her elusive g-spot.

-Banana Guide

THE BEAUTY OBSESSION

«Beauty is unbearable, drives us to despair, offering us for a minute the glimpse of an eternity that we should like to stretch out over the whole of time.»

- Albert Camus

«I LIKE NEW BUILDINGS GOING UP»

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: FAME

It's not the kind of world fame à la Michael Jackson that will be impossible in the 21st century. It's the kind of fame à la Ophra
Winfrey.

«BEAUTY IS A SIGN OF INTELLIGENCE»

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: POLITICS

Strange how people rapidly forget. During the last US electoral campaign the Democrats received more money from the banks than the Republicans...

«WASTING MONEY PUTS YOU IN A REAL PARTY MOOD»

There, on the editorial page of the capitalist Bible,(Wall Street Journal) was a piece taking repeated shots at Wall Street darling Goldman Sachs. And, over on the opposite page, a two-fisted op-ed by former hedge-fund manager Andy Kessler in which he labels the government bailout of Wall Street "a dumb move" and "a bust."I'm planning to shrink down today's Journal, laminate it, and hand it out anytime someone in the media starts analyzing the economy using the cobweb-covered, tried-and-untrue right vs. left framing.You know that this way of looking at financial policy is dead and buried when Rupert Murdoch's pride and joy is publishing takes that I could happily have written myself.Let's start with the editorial, "A Tale of Two Bailouts," which decries the fact that, thanks to the policies of Tim Geithner and Larry Summers, Goldman "enjoys the best of both worlds: outsize profits for its traders and shareholders and a taxpayer backstop should anything go wrong."The piece is spiked with disdainful references to "the Goldmans of the world" and "the likes of Goldman, which apparently needs no help printing money," and takes issue with the way "we changed when we stepped in to save certain banks in the name of saving the system." It also dubs Goldman "Goldie Mac," saying: "Goldman will surely deny that its risk taking is subsidized by the taxpayer -- but then so did Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, right up to the bitter end."

Arianna Huffington
July 16 2009

«PERSONNALY I LOVED PORNO AND I BOUGHT LOTS OF IT ALL THE TIME"

THE BEAUTY OBSESSION

«Beauty?... To me it is a word without sense because I do not know where its meaning comes from nor where it leads to.» 

-Pablo Picasso

«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

July 15 (Bloomberg) -- Artist Dash Snow, whose Polaroid images chronicled the sex- and drug-fueled party circuit of downtown Manhattan in recent years, died at the age of 27. Snow may have taken a drugs overdose, said his grandmother Christophe de Menil, a philanthropist and art collector.

«I JUST THINK ENTERTAINMENT IS THE BEST MESSAGE»

«THERE SHOULD BE COURSE IN FIRST GRADE ON LOVE»

Jesus Luz is realizing that he'll never be anything more than Madonna's manny-with-benefits. According to a source, the 22-year-old Brazilian boy toy has become aware that his cougar-ific girlfriend doesn't take him seriously now that her ex, Guy Ritchie, is back in the picture."Guy is around pretty frequently, and Jesus is becoming resentful," the pal confides. "He feels inadequate. He's intimidated by Guy's accomplishments; they clearly aren't equals."In addition, the male model is downright childlike when it comes to needing Madonna's constant attention. "Jesus has gotten used to being her focus, and when Guy is around, that doesn't happen," says the friend.

-New York Daily News

«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Star Wars" creator George Lucas topped a list of Hollywood's highest male earners on Wednesday, making an estimated $170 million in a year that saw the release of his fourth, blockbuster Indiana Jones movie.Steven Spielberg, who directed "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", took second place after making about $150 million between June 2008 and June 2009, according to Forbes.com.Despite mixed reviews, the movie made $786 million at box offices worldwide.The Forbes list was dominated by men behind the camera rather than screen stars, with movie and TV producer Jerry Bruckheimer -- the man behind hit series like "CSI", "The Amazing Race" and "Cold Case" listed as the third biggest male earner with an estimated $100 million."In Hollywood the stars get their pictures on the covers of magazines and designers ply them with free clothes, but producers earn the big bucks," the Forbes.com website said.

«I NEVER READ I JUST LOOK AT PICTURES«

«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

Michael Jackson’s death is reportedly being treated as a homicide.It has been alleged the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) believe the singer’s death – he passed away aged 50 from a suspected cardiac arrest last month – may have been due to anesthesia Propofol, and they believe Jackson's personal physician Dr Conrad Murray could have been involved.
Gossip website TMZ reports: “Law enforcement sources say there is already ‘plenty of powerful evidence’ linking Dr Murray as the person who administered the drug to Jackson. The evidence includes various items found in Jackson's house, including the Propofol, an IV stand and oxygen tank.“And we've learned the LAPD has had ‘multiple conversations’ with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, although the case has not been formally presented to the district attorney.”

«AND I THINK I SEE MORE HOMELESS PEOPLE ON THE STREET EVERY MONTH.HOW CAN WE LET THIS KEEP HAPPENING»

Unemployment is rising. Foreclosures are surging. Lending is still constrained. So why exactly is the Obama administration waiting to act? It is true that more time is needed to show results for policies that are currently in place, including stimulus spending, foreclosure relief and the bank rescue. But it is also clear that joblessness and defaults are worse now than was assumed when those policies were formed.

Huffington Post
July 14 2009

SHOWING OFF FOR 15 MINUTES OF FAME

«POP ART IS FOR EVERYONE»

Who says artists aren’t the new rock stars? US music manager Pat Magnarella, the supremo behind chart topping groups such as Green Day and The Wallflowers, has just “signed up” British painter Charming Baker (yes, that name is real). Or, as the press release so quaintly puts it: “Baker has recently been patronised by legendary American music manager, Pat Magnarella.” “I now want to use my experience with musicians to create a similar platform for talented artists,” enthuses the music maestro who was named “Personal Manager of the Year” by Pollstar magazine in 2006.

The Art Newspaper
July 15 2009

«I LIKE EVERYBODY'S ART»

Artwork by Robert Campin

«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

Given that Generation Y is often pegged as narcissistic, lazy, having high expectations, craving the limelight, and other such flattering characterizations, one might expect we'd be Twittering as if it were breathing. After all, Twitter is known as a place where people expose the most minute details of their lives--missing the bus, stubbing a toe, toasting an English muffin.
But a recent survey from Pace University and the Participatory Media Network shows that only 22 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds use Twitter, while 99 percent have profiles on social networks.

CNET.com

THE BEAUTY OBSESSION

«Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it”

-Confucius

«I NEVER READ I JUST LOOK AT PICTURES«

“I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD BE BUGGED ALL THE TIME...BUGGED AND PHOTOGRAPHED”

A New York University student -- and part-time photographer -- has made a school project that he says will allow celebrities to fend off paparazzi with a simple flick of the wrist.Adam Harvey, a photographer and graduate student of interactive telecommunications, has designed an "anti-paparazzi" handbag. When the purse is rotated 90 degrees and held vertically, it detects flashes and beams powerful LED lights back at photographers, ruining their shots.The inventor, 28, calls is a "weapon for you to block photos.""I know people hate paparazzi. I'm one of those people," said Mr. Harvey, who has worked as an event photographer for BUST magazine in the past. "I thought that it would be nice to develop some device that allows you to decide whether you want your identity to be public in a public place."

-National Post
July 9 2009

YOUTH WITHOUT COCKINESS IS NO YOUTH AT ALL

«MASS ART IS HIGH ART»

In 1971, David Bowie, one of Gaga's idols, said, "I don't want to climb out of my fantasies in order to go up onstage -- I want to take them on stage with me." Bowie pioneered the idea of rock as theater, incorporating influences like mime and Kabuki into an act that stressed the dreamlike quality of his work. But he still made a distinction between that dream life and his real one. A decade later, genre-crushing New Wave art star Grace Jones reiterated the split. With her signature Flat Top hairstyle and elaborate outfits designed by artists like Jean-Paul Goude and Keith Haring, the statuesque Jones was possibly the most high-concept pop diva ever. But she could step out of her role. "Listen, I'm two people," she told an interviewer in 1980. "Otherwise, I'd be insane!"

L.A Times
July 12 2009

«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — A New York art gallery has temporarily removed an Andy Warhol portrait of Michael Jackson from the auction block.The Vered Gallery in East Hampton says enormous interest prompted the decision. The auction was to close Sunday.The 30-by-26-inch painting shows a smiling Jackson in a red jacket from his "Thriller" days. Pre-sale estimates ranged anywhere from $1 million to $10 million.There's renewed interest in all things Jackson since his death. His albums are back at the top of the charts.Gallery co-owner Janet Lehr says in a statement she wants to offer the 1984 work to "the greatest number of prospective purchasers." She did not immediately return inquiries for comment Monday.The portrait is reportedly owned by a New York collector.

«ATHLETES ARE GOING TO BE THE NEW MEDIA STARS»

«THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT LOVES «RIGHT NOW» LIKE AMERICA DOES»

Madonna and kids have fun in Paris.

Next!

«MORE THAN ANYTHING PEOPLE JUST WANT STARS»

According to the experts, we create mortal heroes to idolize -- and then often judge, ridicule and destroy them."We get to see the absolute edges of human potential and vicariously experience that edge with them," says pop culture guru Dr. Lawrence Rubin. We join the outer realm of possibility with them."And then, it is our envy and inadequacies that leads us to bring them down again," says Rubin, adding that we are jealous of our creations because they dare betray us by being mortal like the rest of us flawed beings -- "they are our Frankenstein monsters, our Galateas..."A multitude of created heroes have fallen "or were pushed by our incessant and insatiable need to idolize, reify and then invariably deconstruct, brick by flawed brick," says Rubin, psychologist and co-author of Messages: Self Help Through Popular Culture (Cambridge Scholars).
From Michael Jackson, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Octomom to Barry Bonds, Bill Clinton, O.J. Simpson, Lenny Bruce and Bernie Madoff, inside and outside of Hollywood toppled pop-culture icons feed our voyeuristic obsession.

-Edmonton Sun
July 11 2009

«EVERYONE MUST HAVE A FANTASY»

And one for my straight guys friends & readers!

«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

One conclusion Professor Savin-Williams drew from his conversations with young men was that there was a direct correlation between how “straight acting” they were and whether they had close straight friends. Sports, he said, were a common area for bonding.“I find very few straight men really wanting to be friends with really obvious gay men,” he said. “They’re afraid other people will think they’re gay because their friend is so obviously gay, or there’s a feeling of almost slight disgust with feminine behavior in a male body.”

New York Times
June 26 2009

«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

I've seen a rough cut and the final cut of "Bruno." If some people get icked out over an innocent kiss, imagine the reactions to a movie that is loaded with stereotypes, toilet humor and a steady stream of gross-out gags. Yes, some of this is aimed at mocking anti-gay attitudes -- and the film often hits its mark. But far too much of it, intentionally or not, ends up hitting gay people instead. In some scenes, the film's method cleverly skewers anti-gay attitudes. But in others it loses its way. In the film's finale, a disguised Bruno takes part in a no-holds-barred cage match in Arkansas (a state that in November voted to effectively ban gay people from becoming adoptive or foster parents). The situation is a set-up, and in the middle of the fight, Bruno begins to rip the clothes off his opponent and kiss him. The audience for the cage match, which is not in on the joke, goes berserk, screaming epithets and hurling objects -- including a chair -- at the two men. (The film's production notes say that the confrontation "lasted many hours" and required 40 police officers "to rescue the cast and crew and quell the angry mob.")

L.A Times
July 13 2009

LANDSCAPE

“I′m having boys come and model for the new paintings I′m doing. But I shouldn′t call them nude. It should be something more artistic. Like Lanscapes..Landscapes″.

-Andy Warhol

«I LIKE TO WORK WHEN I'M NOT WORKING»

«My people handle my schedule... I'm a brand. I'm a businesswoman. I have 13 different product lines. I'm always working».

-Paris Hilton

WARHOLIAN T-SHIRT OF THE DAY

«Forget your ex I'm next»

«PERSONNALY I LOVED PORNO AND I BOUGHT LOTS OF IT ALL THE TIME"

“I LOVE LOS ANGELES. I LOVE HOLLYWOOD. THEY'RE BEAUTIFUL. EVERYBODY'S PLASTIC"

«James Caan was there with his boyish wife, a beauty. They're all marrying younger girls who look like they're thirteen, the Hollywood thing».

The Andy Warhol Diaries
March 28 1977

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: ACHIEVEMENT

Gay men are now the new intellectual underachievers.

ABSOLUT ART

What is it about art that seems to fit so well with Absolut Vodka? And why do artists, usually so wary of having their work co-opted for commercial purposes, embrace the whole idea of painting pictures with vodka bottles in them?The Absolut Collection comprises more than 800 objects (including painting, photography, fashion and furniture) and, since 1994, has been looked after by Marion Kahan. It all began in 1985, when Michel Roux (not the famous chef), went to a party with Andy Warhol. “Roux was the first distributor of Absolut in the US,” says Kahan, “and he and Warhol were talking, and Warhol said that although he didn’t really drink, he liked to use Absolut as a perfume – which was a very Warholian thing to say, as vodka has no scent. Michel asked him if he would do an Absolut artwork, and it went from there.

”The Irish Times
July 11 2009

“I THINK EVERYONE SHOULD BE BUGGED ALL THE TIME...BUGGED AND PHOTOGRAPHED”

FASSBINDER ON WARHOL: EXPLAINING MICHAEL JACKSON'S FACE

«In Warhol's face you see the horrifying price he has to pay. To exist as a shell. Destroyed by one's own work».

Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

WARHOLIAN QUOTE OF THE DAY

«Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes.»

-Jim Carrey

YOUTH WITHOUT COCKINESS IS NO YOUTH AT ALL

«THEY ALWAYS HAD GREAT GIRL MODELS BUT NOW THE BOY MODELS ARE JUST AS GOOD“

«One of the reasons Andy became a model with the Zoli agency in 1983 was that he had simply got tired of everyone asking him to pose for nothing, just because he was Andy Warhol. So he became a model and there he was in the Zoli book, along with all the other male models ; he was a Ford model at the end.»

Warhol by Makos

“MUSCLES ARE GREAT:EVERYBODY SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST ONE THAT THEY CAN SHOW OFF"

«THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT LOVES «RIGHT NOW» LIKE AMERICA DOES»

Perez Hilton to launch record label with Warner Music.

Next!

«AND I THINK I SEE MORE HOMELESS PEOPLE ON THE STREET EVERY MONTH.HOW CAN WE LET THIS KEEP HAPPENING?» -ANDY WARHOL

Let's start with lobbying. Along with many others, I've written extensively about how lobbying consistently waters down, guts, or out-and-out kills attempts to serve the public interest. We've connected the dots between the special money that pours into Washington and the reform-lite legislation that sputters out. We've pointed fingers, named names, and fanned the flames of outrage.And yet the lobbyists remain as pervasive -- and even more powerful -- than ever. Just take a look at what's happening with health care. The Washington Post and TPM [via Open Secrets] this week offered up some details of the unprecedented lobbying effort aimed at undermining health care reform: $1 million a day spent on lobbying; 350 former Members of Congress and Congressional staffers hired to influence the debate, including half a dozen former staffers of Sen. Max Baucus, who remains a human roadblock to real health care reform; the hiring of bipartisan big gun arm-twisters like Bob Dole, Tom Daschle, Dick Armey, and Dick Gephardt to try to sway their former colleagues.

Ariana Huffington
July 10 2009

«I LIKE EVERYBODY'S ART»

Artwork by Matisse

OUR ZEITGEIST

The reason Warhol is still important, says Andy Warhol Museum director Tom Sokolowski, "is that he was a pretty good artist. But his greatness was in knowing which way the world was spinning and its trajectory.... He was an incredible barometer of where the world stood."Adds Andy Warhol Foundation agent Vincent Fremont, "He was this visionary, the most intuitive person that I have ever made contact with.... He understood contemporary media. He saw the future, which a lot of people didn't...."

-Christian Science Monotor
March 29 2002

«BEAUTY IS A SIGN OF INTELLIGENCE»

WARHOLIAN QUOTE OF THE DAY

«It is better to be looked over than overlooked.»

Mae West

«MY FAVORITE THING TO BUY IS UNDERWEAR»

«THERE IS NO COUNTRY IN THE WORLD THAT LOVES «RIGHT NOW» LIKE AMERICA DOES»

Paris Hilton says she want to act only if Quentin Tarantino direct.

-Next!

«IT'S CALLED GOSSIP AND OF COURSE IT'S AN OBSESSION OF MINE»

A Quebec man was fined $40,000 after sharing pics and videos of himself having sex with an ex-girlfriend. He posted the files online, even after promising his girlfriend that he would never ever publish them.The 20-year-old woman said she felt betrayed and humiliated. Superior Court Justice Sylviane Borenstein added that the man's actions were vile.Police had to actually raid the man's apartment to get hold of the computer containing the nasty files. He has also been ordered to stay away from his ex and cannot even talk about her online. We say: if you make a dirty video just post it online and be done with it all. Stop pretending it's never going to see the light of day!

-BananaGuide
July 8 2009

«I HAVE SOCIAL DISEASE. I HAVE TO GO OUT EVERY NIGHT»

«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

Castlestone Asset Management’s Collection of Modern Art fund has picked up several new holdings, including pieces by Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol.The retail fund, which launched at the end of March, added to its portfolio, made up of works by post-war artists who are no longer producing.It aims to capitalise on a drop in the value of the asset class, following a 40% drop off in auction sale volumes since 2007.The acquisitions, which also included work by Keith Haring, Yves Klein and Arman, join a collection which includes Jean Michel Basquiat, Lucio Fontana, Jasper Johns and Willem de Kooning.Constanze Kubern, who advises Castlestone Management on the art market, says "We saw a good level of bidding activity for museum-quality pieces."It looks like there is still demand in the market, but like us, buyers are taking a more considered approach. We are very pleased with our acquisitions and will continue to seek high-quality Post-War art, but only at the right price."

Investment Week
July 9 2009

WARHOLIAN QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Whether you like me or not, I’m not going away anytime soon and I don’t care if you like me, I just care if you read my website.”

-Perez Hilton

«I NEVER READ I JUST LOOK AT PICTURES«

POST WARHOL PREDICTION: JEWISH MAG: IS BRITNEY SPEARS CONVERSION RUMOR GOOD FOR THE JEWS?

ART & THE FACEBOOK GENERATION

My daughter is 17 and I see her as a member of the Facebook generation. The web took off when she was a toddler and I remember taking her to the park and she pointed to the lake and said, "Click on that swan."I think she and her peers simply see digital technology as part of life, like my generation see the motor car or mains electricity.This has plusses and minuses: on one hand they are not impressed by the technology per se but by what you can do with it; on the other hand, like my young daughter in the park, they may have a one-click attitude to creativity.Digital communication encourages a superficial relationship with the real world: if a friendship is not working or a process is boring, an alternative is one click away.On Facebook, people are either friends or not, there are no subtle grades like in face-to-face relationships. I know from bitter experience that real satisfaction comes from achieving a result despite setbacks and long effort. The cyber-mediated world often confuses ideas and understanding with actual experiences and appreciation.We have a generation who can do well in a pub quiz, but may struggle with processes that need long experience and practised judgment; a generation who fully understand that anything can be art, but not what makes some art great.We need to understand that just because some programme gives us the ability, it does not give us any meaning.

Telegraph
July 4 2009

YOUTH WITHOUT COCKINESS IS NO YOUTH AT ALL

THE BEAUTY OBSESSION

“Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson.

«THEY ALWAYS HAD GREAT GIRL MODELS BUT NOW THE BOY MODELS ARE JUST AS GOOD“

FAME & TECHNOLOGY

With every new technology - from the rise of film, recorded music, talking pictures, transistor radios, FM radio, cable TV, and now the digital revolution - experts have predicted the death of celebrity. But each advance has generated celebrities bigger than the past. New technologies, as the work of German economist Peter Tschmuck has shown, open up new distribution channels and new markets that give birth to ever bigger stars.The first big star was Rudy Vallée, whose soft singing voice was amplified by the invention of the electric microphone. He inspired other crooners like Bing Crosby, whose 500 million records sold make him one of the top five selling artists of all time. Next came Frank Sinatra - a true mega-star whose scores of bobby-soxer followers helped solidify the notion of teen pop culture and who was one of the first to capitalize on tie-ins between radio, albums, and feature films. Then came Elvis Presley, the King who took teen culture to a whole new level - his hip-swiveling appearances on Ed Sullivan making national news - and sold more than a billion records over his career.

Richard Florida
The Atlantic
June 7 2009

THE BEAUTY OBSESSION

«I don't like standard beauty - there is no beauty without strangeness.  ~Karl Lagerfeld

«I LIKE EVERYBODY'S ART»

Artwork by Frank Stella

WARHOLIAN QUOTE OF THE DAY

«It is strange that the years teach us patience; that the shorter our time, the greater our capacity for waiting. »

-Elizabeth Taylor

«THERE SHOULD BE COURSE IN FIRST GRADE ON LOVE»

In a new study from Northwestern University, 350 college-age men and women attended speed-dating events. In half of the games of romantical chairs, the guys went from girl to girl; in the other half, the girls went from guy to guy. Each pair got four minutes to chat, after which they evaluated their interest in each other. When it came to the events where men worked the room, everyone performed just as expected: The men were less selective than the women. But when the usual speed-dating routine was turned on its head and the women made the rounds, the guys were more selective and the ladies were less picky.

-Salon
July 8 2009

“MUSCLES ARE GREAT:EVERYBODY SHOULD HAVE AT LEAST ONE THAT THEY CAN SHOW OFF"

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE 21st CENTURY: 15 MINUTES OF FAME

For 15 minutes Susan Boyle was as world famous as Michael Jackson.

«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

Tennant: "No, it'd be my diaries. I've kept them since 1977. There's no comment, or not very much. Today's entry might read: 'Met journalist from Scotland on Sunday who thought we'd be nostalgic.'"

Lowe: "So do you use secret symbols?"

Tennant: "Like for when I had sex? No. But my first editions would be next out of the house. Graham Greene, George Orwell, EM Forster, Evelyn Waugh – I've got A Handful Of Dust with a letter inside written by Waugh."

Lowe: "So are you going to bestow them on the British Library when you die? They could form The Neil Tennant Wing!"

Perhaps Alan Bennett's little entertainment would be called Shopping For A New Woofer, on account of the fact they met in a musical equipment emporium where Tennant, an ex-Smash Hits! journalist, was buying a £150 synthesiser. "This disco lad from Blackpool taught me about rhythm," he says. "I liked the Bee Gees, but had no idea how you did that stuff." Tennant had been writing songs for a while – "piano ballads" – including one about the Profumo affair which would later form the basis of their Dusty Springfield collaboration, Nothing Has Been Proved.

Tennant: "I was also struck by how funny Chris was."

Lowe: "And I was struck by how unlike any of his friends I was – the rest of them were pretentious Geordies.

Tennant: "Absolument!"

At this year's Brits, the Pet Shop Boys were honoured with a gong for Outstanding Contribution to Music presented by a gushing Brandon Flowers of the Killers.


-Scotsman
July 6 2009

«SHOPPING IS MORE AMERICAN THAN THINKING»

FAME IN THE 21st CENTURY

In the new wired world, we are constantly reminded of our own notoriety, or lack of same, compared to everyone else in the world. In the pre-Web world, not only were we not famous, we were also blissfully ignorant of the fact. Today, it seems that everyone should strive to have some small sliver of fame. Keeping up with the neighbors isn't about what's parked in your driveway, it's how many hits your blog gets. Social status is now measured in backlinks, hits and followers. My brother-in-law dealt my ego a devastating blow when he gave me a T-shirt that said "More people have read this T-shirt than my blog." But I'll get even. He won't be getting any link love in this column.

-Mediapost
July 2 2009

POST WARHOL PREDICTION:CELEB MAG: IN THE FUTURE PARIS HILTON WILL PUBLISH« HEIRESS SEX 101»

«MORE THAN ANYTHING PEOPLE JUST WANT STARS»

«I BELIEVE MEDIA IS ART»

The magazine was launched in 1913 by visionary publisher Condé Nast and editor Frank Crowinshield. From its inception, the magazine strove to engage its cosmopolitan and discerning audience with the vibrant modern culture that sparkled at the beginning of the 20th century. The birth of modernism, the dawning of the Jazz Age, and the 1913 Armory Show that introduced avant-garde art to the American public, all marked the beginning of this sophisticated new era. Vanity Fair magazine became a cultural catalyst, introducing and providing commentary on contemporary artists, personalities and writers.

Art Daily

«DEATH MEANS A LOT OF MONEY, HONEY»

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- A Michael Jackson portrait by Andy Warhol that sold for $278,500 in May is being offered for a minimum of $800,000 by an East Hampton, New York, gallery, reflecting the booming market for Jackson items since the pop singer’s death on June 25.

SHOWING OFF FOR 15 MINUTES OF ONLINE FAME

«EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL»

«Over the centuries it was artists, poets, and novelists who told us about the things they considered beautiful and they were the ones who left us examples. Peasants, masons, bakers or tailors also made things that they probably saw as beautiful, but only a very few of these artefacts remain."

-Umberto Eco

WARHOLIAN QUOTE OF THE DAY

«It is as satisfying to me as coming is - you know, as having sex with a woman and coming.»

Arnold Scharzennegger
( «selling» bodybuilding in the 1970's)

YOUTH WITHOUT COCKINESS IS NO YOUTH AT ALL