John Legend & The Roots Collaborate to Tell the World to “Wake Up!”
Jun 24th
Musical forces John Legend & The Roots are presenting fans with a empowering new offering, Wake Up! The upcoming CD, being released by Sony Music on September 21, 2010, will feature soulful music from the 60′s and 70′s all with an underlying theme of awareness, engagement and consciousness — effectively telling listeners to Wake Up!
The musicians were deeply inspired by the election of Barack Obama, and have chosen a list of songs that inspire and ignite change and positive growth in the public. The resulting album features eleven profoundly evocative songs infused with sounds of gospel, rock and reggae inflections with hip-hop influences. The album is highlighted by familiar tracks like “Wholly Holy” by Marvin Gaye and “Little Ghetto Boy” by Donny Hathaway mixed with the more obscure selections of Baby Huey and the Babysitters’ “Hard Times,” and “Hang on in There” by Mike James Kirkland.
These songs sound so relevant now,” Legend says. “On most of them, you wouldn’t change a lyric. Look out for “Wake Up Everybody,” the album’s first single featuring Common and Melanie Fiona. The cd is slated for release September 21st, 2010.
Bristol Palin Makes her Acting Debut on “The Secret Life of an American Teenager”
Jun 24th
Since that unforgettable republican presidential campaign between John McCain and Sarah Palin, the Palin family has been forever stamped into American culture. This includes her daughter Bristol Palin, who caused a mini-firestorm with her teenage pregnancy during Sarah Palin’s campaign. However, since then we have been bestowed with Sarah Palin books, a full-out half-nude spread by Bristol’s baby’s father Levi Johnston. Now Bristol Palin will be making her acting debut in the tv series, “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.” The most famous real-life teenage mom in America, will play herself as a friend to the show’s protagonist, Amy, at a music program for teen mothers. The young mother’s acting will be critqued heavily, let’s hope that the reviews are favorable!
Jil Sander Presents their Mens Spring 2011 Collection
Jun 21st
Raf Simons presented his spring 2011 menswear collection for Jil Sander, in the beautiful and lavish gardens at the 16th century Villa Gamberaia in Florence, Italy.
Guy Trebay gave an honest and raw description of the show for the New York Times, stating, “On the night of the Sander show, the chromatic spectrum also included a stagy charcoal storm sky that eventually came through on a threat to soak the guests. It was against this backdrop that Mr. Simons sent a parade of pale skinny white men parading through the shrubbery, bony limbs clad in shorts and shirts and jackets in an array of unnatural hues.
There’s a distinction worth noting here between designers like Mr. Simons sending their curious formalist exercises down the garden path and the expectation that consumers plan to follow them there. When Mr. Simons designs fluorescent shirts in hot pink paired with orange trousers or electric blue lab coats or floral prints that bring the word housemaid to mind, he is probably not doing so for men that even fashion editors refer to as “real people.””
Ouch. The show did not seem to reflect fashions that men would be comfortable wearing, however, to each his own!
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Elle, Not Camera Shy, Embraces Reality TV
Jun 21st
Elle Magazine has taken a different approach from some of its predeccesors and is embracing reality TV instead of shunning it.
According to the New York Times, “Elle, perhaps more than any other magazine, has embraced television as a way to enhance its brand and broaden its audience. In 2004, the magazine’s fashion director at the time, Nina Garcia, appeared on the first season of Bravo’s “Project Runway” before anyone knew it would be a success.
A job at the magazine was the top prize on the CW reality show “Stylista,” which ran in 2008 for just one season. Later that year, cameras from “The City” were invited into Elle’s offices on the 44th floor of Paramount Plaza in Midtown. They have remained there pretty much ever since.
The magazine is certainly exposed in more ways than one on “The City,” which has attracted an average of 1.6 million viewers so far this season. There are often close-up shots of the Elle logo inside its main office. Computer screens in the background display Elle.com. Magazine employees like Ms. Myers, Mr. Zee and the public relations director, Erin Kaplan, are frequently shown on screen, introduced by graphics that display their name More >
Surfers Gather for Billabong’s Fourth Annual ‘Design for Humanity’
Jun 21st
The surfer crowd, music fans, socialites and celebs all gathered together at a grand ole’ block party on the New York set of Paramount Studios. It was all part of Billabong’s fourth annual “Design for Humanity” event, held on June 10. More than 3,000 revelers enjoyed the fashion-music-art extravaganza, which included a runway show with Billabong’s one-of-a-kind ’80s-era surf-inspired bikinis. The event drew the likes of surfing legend Tom Curren, Billabong freesurfer Keala Kennelly and “Entourage” star Adrian Grenier.
The event was all for a good cause. Proceeds from the event benefit Invisible Children, an organization that raises awareness and funds for families affected by the war in Uganda.
“Auditions: 5% acting. 10% looks. 85% dumb luck”
Jun 18th
Check out LA actor Lary Crew’s simple guide to auditioning:
“One thing I know: no one can really teach you what it’s like to audition. You need to DO it over and over again. Personally, I audition for anything for which I might be remotely right. On occasion, I even audition for something for which I am wrong, just for the experience of auditioning. The more I do it, the less intimidating it is. I audition for student films, TV shows, feature films and commercials because I consider auditions part of my education as an actor. To me, auditions are free acting workshops or rehearsals.
BEFORE Before the audition, don’t over-prepare, Remain flexible. You don’t know exactly what the casting director is looking for. Often, they’ll ask you to read the lines differently. If you’ve rehearsed just one way to do it, change will be difficult. Be comfortable with what you’re doing, but prepared to change.”
IMDB Pressured To Help Actors Lie On Their Resume
Jun 18th
Hollywood has launched a new missle in its ongoing battle to control the internet. Now it’s the Writer’s Guild of America’s turn. Their strategy? Banning facts.
According to Cinema Blend.com, The Wrap says the Guild is, in effect, trying to blackmail IMDB into removing the ages of actors who want to pretend they’re ten years younger than they are.
Other guilds, like the Screen Actors Guild, have also reached out to IMDB in an effort to convince them to remove birthdates from the pages of actors who don’t want them listed. But the Writer’s Guild has a wedge they can use to force IMDB into erasing the truth. They have a contract with the movie database to provide credits information. The veiled implication in The Wrap’s article is that they might stop providing them if IMDB doesn’t do what they want.
Meet The New Girl on the Block: Ajak
Jun 18th
Ajak is the newest gorgeous high-fashion model to hit the runways as of late. The Sudanese beauty has been taking the fashion world by storm in 2010. Ajak became the first black model to walk for Chloe in more than nine seasons. She began her career modeling for smaller NYC designers like Brian Reyes, Dennis Basso, Sophie Theallet, and eventually snagged a spot with Bennetton’s spring campaign, shot by photographer Josh Olins, which became her big break.During her second stab at Fashion Week, she was confirmed at Isaac Mizrahi and Marc by Marc Jacobs, which led to a surprisingly successful run in Paris, walking for Jean Paul Gaultier, Lanvin, Maison Martin Margiela, and Givenchy, among others. At this rate, Ajak might just channel the career of her role model and fellow Sudanese supermodel Alek Wek. Congratulations Ajak!
Airbrushing: Fair or Unfair?
Jun 18th
It is an understatement saying that technology has changed the world of fashion and modeling. Nowadays after a photo shoot, graphic designers can use photoshop to digitally enhance or change the photo of the model. This method is sometimes helpful, but it is also come under fire and debate. Many photos of female models have been altered so strikingly, their bodies look completely unnatural and unattainable. Many people argue that the photoshop era has gone too far.
Airbrushing photos of models usually includes, shrinking of the waist, accentuation of their hips, cleaning up any inflammations or blemishes (even natural ones such as freckles or under-eye puffiness) and other things that begin to make the photos look completely unnatural.
Some companies are trying to break the tradition of airbrushing photos to the point of the models body looking unnatural, Debenham’s creative director Mark Woods said: “‘As a responsible retailer we want to help customers make the most of their beauty without bombarding them with unattainable body images…Our campaign is all about making women feel good about themselves – not eroding their self belief and esteem by using false comparisons…Not only does it make sense from a moral point of view, it ticks the More >
Con Artist on Toddlers and Tiaras?
Jun 18th
TLC’s hot show Toddlers and Tiara’s left quite a few parents in a temper tantrum last night. On last night’s episode, Lisa Fulgham, the director of a child beauty pageant, collected between $15,000 – $20,000 in entry fees, and then left before crowning, without paying her bills or leaving any money for the winning contestants.
Toddlers and Tiaras is the newest show on the TLC network, chronicling the ups and down of parents and young children competing in high-pressure beauty and talent pageants.
Lisa Fulgham’s alleged pageant was completely unorganized and was running about 2.5 hours behind schedule, leaving the dressed up tots and their parents more than cranky. After the contestants began questioning what the problem was, it was discovered that Fulgham was nowhere to be found. Letters were distributed to the parents informing them that instead of cash prizes, they received IOUs.
According to one of the makeup artists at the event, Lisa had not only left with the prize money, but also without paying her bill at the venue. Now that is just not ladylike at all!
