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Apropos of Nothing

7/24/08

4:00 PM

New York Finally Gets a Zaha Hadid — Just Five Years After Cincinnati!

Zaha Hadid's Mobile Art pavilion.Photo: WireImage

It took a while, but we’ve almost caught up with Ohio’s third largest city. Zaha Hadid, the London-based architect whose swooshing, snaking structures and futuristic drawings earned her a Guggenheim Museum retrospective and a Pritzker Prize, will finally build something in New York, just five years after opening her Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. Okay, so it’s not really a building — more of a prefabricated Mobile Art pavilion — and it will only be up for three weeks, but, hey, it’s a Zaha Hadid!

With their ramps and leaning walls and racer silhouettes, Hadid’s designs embody the romance of motion; not coincidentally, one of her major projects is a BMW factory in Germany. So it’s apt that she should announce herself here with a museum that’s stopping just long enough for a drink and a nibble before moving on. The 7,500-square-foot saucer alights in the middle of Central Park on October 20, courtesy of Chanel, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its classic quilted handbag by commissioning handbag-inspired art. The resulting exhibit is traveling around the world in its own portable gallery: a pouch for purses, you might say. The cynical notion that somehow the city is turning over its precious public space to a highbrow billboard is dispelled by the millions that the company is reportedly donating to the Central Park Conservancy and the Parks Department. Plus, who cares: It’s a Zaha Hadid! —Justin Davidson

More: architecture, art, zaha hadid

Apropos of Nothing

7/24/08

12:30 PM

‘Where the Wild Things Are’ Producer Says Spike Jonze Will Have Final Cut

Photos: Getty Images; Courtesy of Warner Bros.

On his train ride to Comic-Con in San Diego yesterday, poor Gary Goetzman, head of the Playtone Company and a producer on Spike Jonze's adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, was accosted by at least three different bloggers, all eager for a scoop on the purportedly trouble-plagued production. Goetzman was doing publicity for next year's Bill Murray–toplined electricity drama City of Ember (yes, on a train, which was surely a mistake) when he was apparently cornered by writers for Cinematic Happenings Under Development, Ain't It Cool News, and Variety (though Anne Thompson's report is not yet online, sadly).

"[Spike] wanted big animatronic Wild Things in the jungle, which look great. As you go deeper in the jungle and weather sets in... We misjudged that, production-wise." »

More: gary goetzman, movies, playtone productions, spike jonze, where the wild things are

Apropos of Nothing

7/24/08

11:00 AM

‘Watchmen’ Fans Might Finally Have Something to Be Disappointed With: a ‘Watchmen’ Video Game!

Courtesy of DC Comics

Amid last week's excitement over the new trailer for Zack Snyder's Watchmen movie, there was a palpable feeling of disappointment for some fans of the original graphic novel. Not in the trailer itself — which makes the movie look awesome, like a faithfully lensed, live-action version of the comic — but probably more in the fact that the guy who made 300 seems to have pulled it off and we'll have very little to complain about when this thing hits theaters next March (even if super-grumpy nerds like us still sort of wish we could've seen Paul Greengrass's version). But fear not! Now, MTV reports that a video-game adaptation of Watchmen is in the works.

And when was the last time a movie video-game adaptation turned out any good? »

More: movies, video games, watchmen

Apropos of Nothing

7/24/08

9:45 AM

Screech Writes ‘Saved by the Bell’ Tell-all

Courtesy of NBC

Sometimes a book deal comes along that you never knew you were waiting for, but, once it's announced, you realize it has been your secret wish all along. Which explains our reaction to the news that Dustin Diamond, whose high-pitched nerdy exploits as Samuel "Screech" Powers figured prominently in nearly thirteen (!) years of Saved by the Bell incarnations (plus that infamous sex tape), has jumped on the tell-all bandwagon. Behind the Bell, which Gotham Books preempted from Objective Entertainment's Jarred Weisfeld, promises to detail "sexual escapades among cast members, drug use, and hardcore partying," and for those of us who spent untold hours in our formative years memorizing "I'm So Excited" and the entire back catalog of Zack Attack, this is the greatest book deal in the history of the universe.

But can Screech answer the most burning SBTB question? »

More: behind the bell, books, dustin diamond, gotham books, saved by the bell, tv

Apropos of Nothing

7/23/08

5:15 PM

What Is Your Cultural Secret Shame?

Photo: istockphoto

Inspired by David Lodge's classic campus comedy Changing Places, the Times of London asked a number of authors to play the game Humiliation — in which you admit the most embarrassing book you've never read, and the winner is the one whose novel of secret shame has been read by the most other players. (In Lodge's novel, one character trumps everyone else by admitting he's never read Hamlet, and is summarily fired.) Eight of us played a round of Humiliation here in the office, and Jessica Pressler impressed everyone by admitting she's never read To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel all seven of the other players had read when they were, like, 14.

But then we realized there's just as much pop-culture cachet to great cinema these days as there is to literature. So we played another round of Humiliation, with movies this time, and the results were somewhat embarrassing for New York Magazine.

Wait, how many of us have seen Citizen Kane? »

More: books, games, humiliation, movies

Apropos of Nothing

7/23/08

10:30 AM

Update: Christian Bale Released From Police Custody After Cussing at Former Clown

Photo: Getty Images

Reports this morning indicate that Christian Bale's arrest for assault yesterday came after the actor "cussed at his mother" and "got very loud" on Sunday and, thankfully, not the violent physical altercation we all know Batman is easily capable off. A source for London's Daily Mail says the argument began when Bale's mom — who, as the Mail and others gleefully point out, is a former circus clown — insulted his wife and he "flew off the handle" but "didn't lay a finger on anyone." (Apparently in London, "verbal assault" is a crime, which makes one wonder how it's possible that Liam Gallagher walks the streets a free man.) According to a statement from Bale's lawyer, he cooperated with police and left the station yesterday without being charged.

EXCLUSIVE: Arrested Batman star 'flew into a rage after his mother insulted his wife' [Daily Mail]

Earlier: Christian Bale Arrested; Police: ‘We Thought He Was the Batman’

More: batman, christian bale, movies, the dark knight

Apropos of Nothing

7/23/08

9:45 AM

Will the Continued Success of ‘The Dark Knight’ Force Paul Dergarabedian to Work on a Weekday?

Courtesy of Warner Bros., IFC FIlms

On Sunday, as is the routine, world-famous Hollywood number comparer Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracking firm Media by the Numbers, received a telephone call from his friends at the Associated Press who needed the weekend success of The Dark Knight explained to them in the most simple and banal possible terms. "The average opening gross of the last five Batman movies is $47 million," said Dergarabedian, presumably beaming. "This tripled that." Then, after the customary round of thanks and congratulations, he hung up the phone, patted himself on the back, and set out on another glorious six-day weekend — or so he thought!

But then Dark Knight made freaking $25 million ON A MONDAY. »

More: movies, paul dergarabedian, the dark knight

Apropos of Nothing

7/22/08

4:00 PM

If Katy Perry’s ‘I Kissed a Girl’ Is the Song of the Summer, Vulture Will Move to Canada

Yes, despite all attempts to avoid it, we have heard this song. Truthfully, we should've written about it when we were weighing the contenders for this year's "Umbrella," but we just couldn't bring ourselves to listen to it again. Also, since it's awful, we really didn't think it had much of a chance anyway. But now, blog-tracking site Buzzfeed has declared it the odds-on favorite to be America's official Song of the Summer 2008, based on its massive (unfortunate) popularity and the fact that, in spite of everything, it's actually kind of catchy. Since we've never really hated a SOTS before, this would actually be sort of devastating.

So devastating that we'll leave the country if it happens, maybe. »

More: katy perry, music, umbrella watch

Apropos of Nothing

7/22/08

12:30 PM

‘Office’ Spinoff Really a Non-Spinoff, But Now There's Another Spinoff

Photos: Getty Images, istockphoto, courtesy of NBC

Our heads are spinning off! NBC wunderkind Ben Silverman confirmed yesterday that while Amy Poehler has been cast in an upcoming NBC sitcom from Greg Daniels, the creator of The Office, it is not an Office spinoff. "Amy will never appear in the world of The Office," Silverman said, describing the un-spinoff as "a new concept that's set stylistically similar to The Office." It will premiere in the spring, pushed back from its initial post–Super Bowl slot by Poehler's pregnancy.

However! That doesn't mean there won't be an Office spinoff, and fast! "We are also going to be continue to pursue the spinoff," Silverman said, and added that it will include both characters already on The Office and new characters introduced to the show for the purpose of being spun off. It's funny that this whole situation has become so complicated that The Office is now a "world" with its own continuity, as if we're in the Buffyverse or something. The world of The Office is much like our own, only with much better-funded workplace documentary crews.

NBC wants both a Poehler show and an 'Office' spin-off [Live Feed/HR]

Earlier: If the ‘Office’ Spinoff Isn’t an ‘Office’ Spinoff, Then What the Hell Is It?

More: amy poehler, ben silverman, greg daniels, nbc, the office, the office non-spinoff, the office spinoff

Apropos of Nothing

7/22/08

11:00 AM

Jay Leno Goes Undercover, Grills Poor Ben Silverman

Courtesy of NBC

Yesterday, at a press conference, NBC co-chairmen Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff announced that Jay Leno's final Tonight Show will air on May 29, 2009. And, as could probably have been expected, Leno himself showed up wearing a disguise to ask the important questions: "Will Leno be paid for the rest of the year?" "Yeah, sure," answered Graboff. But then things got a little uncomfortable. "Brett Favre retired and then wanted to come back, and the Packers said no," said bald-capped, fake-mustached Leno. "What do you make of that?"

But Ben Silverman handled it like a pro, naturally. »

More: ben silverman, disguises, jay leno, marc graboff, tonight show, tv