Double Negative

Ramsey Bros. Pictures pays tribute to Hollywood’s Golden Age. The Glitz. The Glamor. The Grammar.

thanks Erin

We were no longer “good society”…

Jane Austen’s Fight Club

Directed by Emily Janice Card & Keith Paugh, written by Emily Janice Card. © 2010 Relatively Badarse Productions

thanks Erin

Update, July 31, 2010: Mystery solved! Contributor Sara Jones found an article in the June/July issue of Art in America about the Italian artist at whose exhibition I met Alice Neel. His name is Piero Gilardi.

From Joey Skaggs, editor, July 9, 2010:

An Alice Neel retrospective has been organized by White Chapel Gallery in Houston and is currently traveling in Europe. Neel (1900-1984) was a portrait painter. A portrait she painted of me in the mid 60s was recently exhibited at La Louver Gallery in Venice, CA. Peter Frank reviewed the show in Huffington Post on July 7, 2010.

Seeing the portrait again brought back memories of meeting her. It was one of those incredible encounters.

I was having an exhibition of my abstract landscape paintings in mid-town New York and decided to walk up and down 57th street visiting other galleries. I ended up in a gallery whose name I can’t recall featuring an Italian sculptor whose name I also don’t remember. The artist carved elaborate environments from giant rolls of foam and air brushed them to look realistic. They were rolls of artificial reality. One was a giant landscape hanging from the wall and draping onto the floor, simulating a creek bed. There was also a watermelon patch and a tomato garden. I found myself standing next to a little old lady (I being in my twenties and she being in her sixties, she was a little old lady to me). We both were staring at the creek and then looked at each other. She said “Why don’t we take off our shoes and walk on it. I wonder what it feels like.” She kicked off her shoes, I pulled off my cowboy boots and we stood on it together, squishing the foam under our toes. She said “I could just see them rolling this out over Vietnam.” I said, “Yeah, covering the dead bodies.” She said, “What do you do, my dear?” I said, “I’m an artist. As a matter of fact, I’m having an exhibition of my work right now just a few blocks away.” She said, “I’m an artist too! Let’s go see your work.” And we did.

She said she’d like me to pose for her, that she’d like to do a really big painting, 6 feet tall, full figure. I agreed and she asked me to pick up the stretchers and the canvas. She never reimbursed me, but I figured, okay, she’s a little old lady… And that began my friendship with Alice Neel. Although I’ve seen pictures, I haven’t seen the actual painting for decades. Somewhere along the line, not sure if by her or someone else, my last name Skaggs was spelled with a “c” instead of a “k”.

For fun I thought I’d pose with my twenty-something self…

UPDATE June 7, 2010: Israel Apologizes For Circulating Spoof Video Mocking Gaza Flotilla, Huffington Post

Three points of view, submitted by Toni Dalton, from LatmaTV, June 3, 2010:

The Gaza Flotilla participants explain how they can con the world – http://www.facebook.com/latma.co.il

Also from Toni, from salon.com:

How Israeli propaganda shaped U.S. media coverage of the flotilla attack by Glenn Greenwald

And from ZSpace:

Kill A Turk And Rest, by Uri Avnery

Produced by Mike Polk Jr who says:

“Cleveland Tourism Board gave me 14 million dollars about 8 months ago to make a promotional video to bring people to Cleveland. As usual, I waited till the last minute and I ended up having to shoot and edit it in about an hour yesterday afternoon. I probably should have invested more time.”

This video was quickly followed by an equally funny sequel:
Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video: 2nd Attempt.

thanks Michael

Submitted by Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere:

For our latest mission, we brought the movie Ghostbusters to life in the reading room of The New York Public Library at 42 Street. The 1984 movie begins with a scene in the very same room, so we figured it was time for the Ghostbusters to make an encore appearance.

The New York Public Library approached us about a month ago and asked if we would want to stage an Improv Everywhere mission on their property. The library is facing serious budget cuts, and they thought having us do something awesome there might serve to remind people of how great the NYPL is. We couldn’t say no to the opportunity to do something in their gorgeous, 100 year-old Rose Main Reading Room.

Shot by: Matt Adams, Brian Fountain, Erik Martin, Caleb Heller, Kristopher Knight, and Ariane West
Photography: Katie Sokoler and Brian Fountain
Ghostbusters: Kevin Hines, Rob Lathan, Justin Purnell, Alex Scordelis
Ghosts: Ben Rodgers, Amos Vernon, Tyler Walker

For more info and photos, visit Improv Everywhere

Update, May 20, 2010: Alleged Yo-Yo Master Strikes Again, written by David Moye for AOL News.

From Funny or Die:

Kenny K-Strass Strasser is a Yo-Yo master who goes on local morning news shows to show off his Yo-Yo master skills. The Morning news hosts have no idea he’s not really a Yo-Yo master at all and that’s when the magic happens.

Yo-Yo Master Pulls Hoax on Morning News Show

Yo-Yo Master Pulls Hoax on Another Morning News Show

Read more about this in the Milwaukee Sentinel

thanks Deb

Due to a copyright infringement suit, all the Hitler film “Downfall” parodies are being pulled from YouTube April 30. The hysterical Hitler parodies.

So a couple of people made ROFL versions in response:

This one’s on Funny or Die, so maybe it will survive the scourge:

thanks Erin and Laughing Squid

See other Downfall parodies here, here, and here.

Artist Dave Barton’s portraits parody the best of ‘em…

Rembrandt’s Homer Simpson

Marge Simpson

And, there’s more… (more…)

According to cindymomof6:

Jaydon’s school put on a kids production of Scarface.

Al Pacino, look out!

Cute but… it’s a hoax.

thanks Erin

Submitted by Stuart MacLelland:

Trailer for the 11th Best Picture Nomination of 2009 by Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney of Britanick, (3:23)

Academy Award Winning Movie Trailer

Hardcore Graffiti Behavior – Magic Colorz (Berlin)

via Global Shift

Submitted by Brett Nielsen:

An Odd Doritos Ad for an Odd Doritos Flavor…

I submitted this to the Doritos mystery flavor contest and it is gaining popularity.

It made it past the screeners (I guess they’ve never seen goatse) and if it wins then the new Doritos flavour will be called Goat Cheese and they will have this awesome goatse related advertisement…

Update: Visit here for a cheat sheet of the artists and their work.

70 Million by Hold Your Horses! from L'Ogre.

thanks Nancy and Berns

USB Wine, download wine straight from the vineyards!, by zs2creative

The USB Wine key allows you to download wine from home and straight from the vineyard. The Wine Store offers more than 1200 different wines you can taste immediately with just a few clicks!

Go to www.usbwine.com now and start downloading!

thanks Erin