Welcome to Crasstalk. This one is for all the lovers out there -you know who you are. Continue reading
In less than two weeks we will quietly pass the 27th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger disaster-an unnecessary tragedy that cost the lives of seven astronauts on a frosty January morning in 1986. I was lucky enough this week to sit through a talk given by a former employee of Morton Thiokol-the company who manufactured the boosters used on and widely blamed for the Challenger disaster.
The commonly accepted explanation for the accident was that Thiokol’s booster design contained fatal flaws in the O-rings that held the boosters together, and coupled with poor organizational control that prevented the flaws from being addressed. The truth, however, was much greater, and much more troubling to anyone who believed in the greatness of the American space program or the infallible nature of President Ronald Reagan’s administration. Continue reading
A few weeks back, I was in a Twitter conversation with Wendy Brandes (@WendyBrandes) about how she had missed seeing Polly Mellon at the 92 Street Y as part of their lecture series on Fashion. During the course of the very short conversation, one of my favorite documentaries of all time came up: Unzipped
It was the 90s. It was fashion. It was everything.
I had always been a devotee of fashion and the fashion industry. How many young men get up at the crack of dawn on Saturdays to watch Style with Elsa Klench before heading off to tennis practice? Or Fashion TV with Jeane Becker? Or Tim Blanks’ tour de force Fashion File? And I would be remiss in not mentioning House of Style, BTW the show is coming back and TODD FREAKING OLDHAM IS DOING CAMEOS, which has left a long lasting impression on this man. So needless to say when I hear about a new documentary about the creation of Isaac Mizrahi’s 1994 Fall collection, I’m in. More than in actually. Since I don’t drive at this point, I actually figure out how to get to the one movie theater in the city that was showing this movie via the city bus, that’s how determined I am to see this. Continue reading
In mid-December D.T. Max, author of the first full-length biography of the American novelist David Foster Wallace — titled Every Love Story Is a Ghost Story
Good morning, good afternoon, and good night. Continue reading
Reviews are the stuff of life nowadays. Very rarely do we encounter anything anymore where someone hasn’t written an opinion about it. Of course there are reviews for every place or event you can think of, but what about the places or things that you’d never consider? Who the hell would go to their computer or phone, load up Yelp and start typing out a tome to the DMV? Well, ok, everyone knows why someone would do that but still?
Out of curiosity, I’ve done some completely random, non-comprehensive, non-scientific research to find out who these people are and some of the places they felt the need to share their view of the world for: Continue reading
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has today ordered the arrest of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on corruption charges. Continue reading
Happy Tuesday. Get to twerqin’! Continue reading
I have a serious karaoke habit. Despite not being even a slightly talented singer, I routinely have fun at karaoke night. But whenever I bring friends to my favorite spot (Midtown Tavern in Atlanta, for my ATL peeps), there are always a few people who are terrified by the idea of singing up on stage in front of strangers. It doesn’t have to be that way.
Here are my seven rules for having fun at karaoke. Continue reading
Top Hollywood scientists predict that by 2015, 100% of all movies will be remakes. Some filmologists disagree, arguing that we will not achieve the Remake Singularity until after we have passed the Prequel Event Horizon, where all movies are prequels. Regardless of which theoretical camp they subscribe to, film specialists agree that Renaissance Man/thespian James Franco is a pivotal figure in film history. Some argue that his appearance in Oz, The Great and Powerful, may be the culmination of The Prequel Event Horizon and usher in the Total Remake Era. Let us explore what a Franco-dominated future might look like. Continue reading