From the 'what if?' TV department: Lost (1967) opening credits
If you ever wondered what a late-'60s pop-art version of "Lost" would be like, wonder no more with this fan-produced version of the opening credits in the style of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." or "The Prisoner." Pretty groovy, in an Austin Powers kinda way...
(via Entertainment Weekly)
--Richard Metzger
For when you care enough to send the very best: SVU Valentine's Day cards
If you find yourself looking for unusual Valentine's Day cards, look no further, because pop culture-obsessed artist Brandon Bird has come up with what are probably the most unusual valentines you are likely to find -- ever! Yup, the kitschmeister supreme responsible for the classic painting "No One Wants to Play Sega with Harrison Ford" has done it again with: SVU Valentine's Day cards, or, as Brandon prefers, "Saint Victims Unit" cards.
Nuthin' says lovin' like a DNA specimen jar or a spiteful Fred Thompson scowl, are you with me? And what's more, there are high-res versions you can download and print out yourself that are 100% free on his blog.
-- Richard Metzger
P.S.: When you visit his website, do not miss the "Letters to Walken" section documenting an art project of Bird's that saw schoolchildren writing their annual Christmas letters to ... Christopher Walken.
Image credit: Brandon Bird
Ozzy Osbourne signs 'I Am Ozzy' at Book Soup
Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood; 7 p.m.; free
--Alie Ward
Video: A youthful Ozzy Osbourne sings "Iron Man" in Paris with Black Sabbath, 1970.
Audra McDonald in concert tonight at the Freud Playhouse
Freud Playhouse, 245 Charles E. Young Drive East, UCLA Campus, Westwood; 8:30 p.m.; $95
--Alie Ward
Video: Audra McDonald sings a feisty version of the Judy Garland standard, "Down With Love"
The new (Ed) Hardy Boys: Kings of Leon launch overpriced clothing line for faux hipsters
The much-maligned Ed Hardy clothing company has simultaneously given the fashion-challenged, uh, idiot population a way to express their "uniqueness" to the world while giving the rest of us something to point at and laugh about (well "white people" at least, but I suspect it's possible for persons of any race, creed or color to find the Technicolor vomit of Ed Hardy clothing absolutely insufferable). Now there are some new kids on the fashion block and they want to do for trust fund hipsters what Ed Hardy did for Jon Gosselin and the cast of MTV's "Jersey Shore."
Yes indeed, the Grammy award-winning Kings of Leon pop group are coming out with a new line of expensive prefab hipster togs which will be for sale in just one store on London's trendy King's Road. Starting this month, if you are so inclined, you can spend your parents' hard-earned dough on a dozen overpriced items of the “S2A x KOL” collection, to be sold exclusively at The Shop at Bluebird. Items of apparel fashioned after the ones worn by the musical Followill family include plaid shirts, stovepipe jeans, belts, jewelery, guitar straps and, of course, black Fedoras. The “S2A x KOL” is a collaboration between the Followills and Paris-based design firm, Surface to Air.
--Richard Metzger
Photo: The Kings of Leon arrive on Feb. 7 for Clive Davis' pre-Grammy Awards party at the Beverly Hills Hilton. Credit: Luis Cinco/Los Angeles Times.
Lady Gaga touches down in LA for three nights at the Nokia Theatre
Consider yourself lucky to secure tickets for even one
of Lady G's three nights at Nokia Theatre- she is, after all, pop
music’s current omnipresent chart queen. Based on her recent live
performances at the VMA’s and AMA’s, she’s set to bring it even harder
with opulent, over-the-top set-pieces for all of her beguiling and
infectious hits. Now touring in support of her recently released album, The
Fame Monster, there’s never been a better time to catch this Lady at
the top of her love game.
7:30 pm, Nokia Theatre, 777 Chick Hearn Court, (213) 763-6020, $19.75-$79.75
--Ramie Becker
Photo of pop queen Lady Gaga meeting the Queen of England, taken on Dec. 7, 2009 by by Leon Neal/WPA Pool/Getty Images
Yes, we have no tomatoes: Salad staple banned during Sarah Palin's Costco visit
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, a Costco in Salt Lake City took tomatoes off its shelves last week in preparation for Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" book-signing appearance at the store. A man was arrested on Dec. 7 at a Palin event at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., for allegedly throwing a tomato at the former Alaska governor, and Costco management was "determined" to avoid a repeat. Helen Rappaport, a Democrat, was happy to browse the nearly empty aisles of the big-box giant while other shoppers clustered around the Palin event area, but she was puzzled as to why she couldn't seem to find any tomatoes:
No tomatoes? At Costco?
As she was leaving, she noticed a man with a store manager's name tag and asked him why they had no tomatoes. He informed her the store did have tomatoes, but they were taken off the shelves for a few hours.
It turns out that Palin had been pelted with a tomato at an earlier stop on her book tour and the management at the Costco was determined it wouldn't happen here.
No word on whether eggs, watermelons, apples or other potentially useful foodstuff projectiles were available during the Palin event.
-- Richard Metzger
Photo: Sarah Palin at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Credit: Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times.
Everybody's got a hungry heart: Bruce Springsteen sticks up for gay rights
The Boss has spoken, but will New Jersey's incoming governor listen? In a brief statement posted on his website, Bruce Springsteen voices his strong support for the right of same-sex couples to marry. Some see the statement as pointedly tweaking Gov.-elect Christopher Christie -- a Republican and a huge Springsteen fan, who has indicated that he will veto a bill on that issue when he takes office -- with the Boss quoting outgoing Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine. The bill passed the state Senate by a single vote Monday.
Like many of you who live in New Jersey, I've been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton. I've long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples and fully agree with Governor Corzine when he writes that, "The marriage-equality issue should be recognized for what it truly is -- a civil rights issue that must be approved to assure that every citizen is treated equally under the law." I couldn't agree more with that statement and urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now.
-- Richard Metzger
Photo: President Obama and Kennedy Center honorees, from left, Dave
Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Robert De Niro and Bruce Springsteen in the East Room of
the White House on Dec. 6. Credit: Alex Brandon / Associated Press
Conspiracy theories, Tiger Woods gossip and deconstructing the fine art of blogging
Google Trends is the blogger's BFF (that means "best friend forever" for you non-Perez-reading philistines). You are never -- or almost never -- at a loss for things to post about using Google Trends (everyone does it), and if you catch the wave at the right moment, you can ride it all day, racking up beaucoup page views. On some days, however, the pickings are slim, or else they're just ... kinda incoherent.
Today, for instance, the "group mind" (if you will) of the World Wide Web seems to be interested in -- I'm not making this up -- "Custer's Revenge." Yes, Custer's Revenge is the No. 1 trending topic on Google this morning. Don't ask me why, but it is. And all the links point either to a controversial and terribly un-PC early '80s video game in which the player rapes squaws (huh??) or else, to articles about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Make any sense? Didn't think so. That's the dada pleasure of Google Trends [UPDATE: Howard Stern talked about the video game this morning on his radio show.]
Another trending topic this morning is the H.A.A.R.P. Project, the "mysterious" Pentagon-sponsored weather-watching laboratory in Alaska that's had Internet conspiracy theorists wildly speculating since the mid-'90s. Why today? That answer is a little more clear cut than the Custer's Revenge thing and involves Jesse Ventura's new "Conspiracy Theory" show on truTV.
This morning, the H.A.A.R.P. Project held several positions in the top 50 listings on Google Trends, but it's got nuthin', I mean nuthin', on the Tiger Woods goss. It's everywhere today and has staked out a crazy amount of the country's collective mindscape, if Google Trends is anything to go by. The gossip blogs must clean up every day, but on a day like today, with all the Tiger Woods stories floating around out there, the best source this morning happens to be our sister blog at the Los Angeles Times, Ministry of Gossip, with its road map to all the Tiger Woods gossip, voice-mail messages and reported former mistresses.
Now, just in case my little Jedi Mind Trick here isn't, um, blatant enough, folks, let me recap for you:
I am a blogger. I started off my day with a blank screen in front of me. I went to Google Trends and started writing up a post containing all three of this morning's hottest topics -- it'll be a steroid shot to the Web traffic here all day long -- and I found a way to work in a colleague's (excellent) blog while simultaneously sending traffic to that blog and gaining a shedload of page views for Brand X in the process. Hah!
That's how we bloggers roll, people, that's how we roll. Class is dismissed.
-- Richard Metzger
Photo credit: Mark Ralston / AFP/Getty Images.Marilyn Monroe caught smoking a joint on film?
A silent 8mm film of Marilyn Monroe allegedly smoking a joint has surfaced on the Internet. Shot in a home in New Jersey in 1958 or '59 (based on how the actress looked at the time) she is passed what is said to be a "reefer" by a friend and takes a drag. She giggles and sniffs her armpit, giggles some more, then the film runs out.
As to the matter of what was really in those rolling papers, the filmmaker, a friend of the late actress who prefers to remain nameless, said "I got [the pot]. It was mine. It was just passed around. It was not a party. It was just a get-together. You know, come over and hang out."
