LIFE: August 1950: A 24-year-old Marilyn, wearing a simple button-down shirt monogrammed with her initials, leans against a tree in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park for LIFE photographer Ed Clark. The negatives for these photos were recently discovered during our ongoing effort to digitize LIFE’s immense and storied photo archive, including outtakes and entire shoots that never saw the light of day. Click through to see more stunning shots of Marilyn, plus the reason why they may never have been published. MORE
When Slim Shady’s Face Met Sacha Cohen’s Junk
ASSOCIATED PRESS: In character as flamboyant fashion reporter “Bruno,” Baron Cohen flew in above Sunday’s award show audience on a wire — and in a pair of feathery white wings and his rear end mostly exposed. But the comedian crashed into an overhead obstacle, and he was lowered into the audience — right into Eminem’s lap, his bare hindquarters in the rapper’s face. Eminem seemed visibly upset at the mishap. Or was it a joke he was in on? The rapper stormed out with his entourage in tow — and cameras rolling. MORE UPDATE: The head writer for the MTV […]
CINEMA: Hell And Back
DRAG ME TO HELL (2009, directed by Sam Raimi, 96 minutes, U.S.) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Seventeen years since the last Evil Dead film, fanboy icon Sam Raimi returns to his goo-oozing roots with the tightly-wound thriller Drag Me To Hell. The doomed bank officer Christine may be seen living through the worst three days of her life but fans of the manic mayhem with whichRaimi originally found fame will rejoice like a curse has been lifted. In a plot that crackles with contemporary resonance, Allison Lohman plays Christine Brown, a nervously ambitious banker desperate to show her boss […]
SPECIAL REPORT: The Good News Flower Hour
SPECIAL REPORT: GNFH #23 Today is SAY NO TO U.S. TORTURE POLICY Day. We made this reminder so you don’t forget. You’re welcome. RELATED: Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse, it has emerged. At least one picture shows an American soldier apparently raping a female prisoner while another is said to show a male translator raping a male detainee. Further photographs are said to depict sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and a phosphorescent tube. Another apparently shows a female prisoner having […]
SPECIAL EDITION: The Good News Flower Hour
Collateral News: The Good News Flower Hour #22 This week we examine the strange art of Donald Rumsfeld’s holy war. Enjoy. RELATED: This Sunday, GQ magazine is posted on its Web site an article adding new details to the ample dossier on how Donald Rumsfeld’s corrupt and incompetent Defense Department cost American lives and compromised national security. The piece is not the work of a partisan but the Texan journalist Robert Draper, author of “Dead Certain,” the 2007 Bush biography that had the blessing (and cooperation) of the former president and his top brass. It draws on interviews with more […]
CINEMA: Triple Play
TERMINATOR: SALVATION (2009, directed by McG, 130 minutes, U.S.) ADORATION (2008, directed by Olivier Assayas, 100 minutes, Canada) SUMMER HOURS (2008, directed by Olivier Assayas, 103 minutes, France) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Now we know why Christian Bale was so on edge.Terminator: Salvation has a-risen and it is just as joyless and relentless as Bale’s on-set demeanor. We’ve finally arrived at the apocalyptic desert war briefly viewed in the original Terminator twenty-five years ago and now we understand James Cameron’s wisdom in making this scenario a peripheral aside instead of the main course. Here is another blockbuster series reboot, […]
BEING THERE: The Good News Flower Hour
A special edition, look for it later today.
COURTS: American Apparel Settles With Woody Allen
NEW YORK TIMES: So much for the trial of the century: a lawsuit filed by Woody Allen against American Apparel was quickly settled on Monday morning for $5 million, Reuters reported. Mr. Allen was suing the clothing maker for using without permission an image of him from “Annie Hall,” in which he was dressed as a Hasidic Jew, on billboards that appeared in New York and Los Angeles and in online advertisements. The weeks leading up to Monday’s brief courtroom action had been tense. In a deposition in December, Mr. Allen said the ads were “sleazy” and “infantile,” according to […]
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #21 …has been CLASSIFIED for your protection.
CINEMA: One, Singular Sensation
EVERY LITTLE STEP (2008. directed by Adam Del Dio & James D. Stern, 96 minutes, U.S.) SONG OF THE SPARROWS (2008, directed by Majid Majidi, 96 minutes, Iran) BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Among the least successful adaptations from stage to screen, Richard Attenborough’s 1985 film version of A Chorus Line seems to continually put its wrong foot forward. Casting actors with slight dance skills (Audrey Landers of the Landers Sisters?), shooting dancers from the knees up and needless cutaways busting in mid-song; this deserved flop thoroughly killed the soul of the behind-the-scenes dance musical. Twenty-some years later, this documentary […]
CINEMA: The French Connection
[Virginia Eliza Poe August 22, 1822 – January 30, 1847] MONSIEUR HIRE (1989, directed by Patrice Leconte, 81 minutes, France) THE LOVES OF EDGAR ALLEN POE (1942, directed by Harry Lachman, 67 minutes, U.S.) PANIQUE (1947, directed by Julien Duvivier, 91 minutes, France) ANDREW’S VIDEO VAULT @ The Rotunda 4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia PA Thursday May 14th 2009 8PM Free! BY DAN BUSKIRK FILM CRITIC Two French masterpieces, based on the same novel and an odd biopic rarity make for another night of eclectic cinema at Andrew’s Video Vault. The 1989 breakthrough from director Patrice Laconte (director of the 1999 […]
GEEKS HAVE MORE FUN: Did We Mention The New Star Trek TOTALLY Rocks & We Saw It Twice Already?
DAILY TELEGRAPH: It is probably the most famous greeting in the universe. But the simple Vulcan salute left makers of the new Star Trek film with a galactic-sized headache – because Mr Spock just couldn’t do it. After much head-scratching, experts on the $150 million blockbuster – which boasts stunning high-tech effects – hit upon a low-tech but logical solution – gluing actor Zachary Quinto’s fingers together, The Mail on Sunday newspaper in the UK reports. Quinto, 31, admitted he found it impossible to form his fingers into the distinctive V-shaped gesture, saying: “It’s much harder than it looks. Seriously.” […]
WEEK IN REVIEW: The Good News Flower Hour
The Good News Flower Hour #20 This week: The last pig in Afghanistan, shit blowing up in Pakistan, anal torture in the UAE, face transplants in the USA, and Joe the Plumber is an assclown. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll come as you are. Promise.