Stephen Sprouse is omnipresent lately and Deitch Projects is the epicentre of his re-emergence on the fashion scene with their bright installation devoted to his dynamic, energetic and all too brief career. Bolstered by videos of runway footage and the Sprouse scene from Slaves of New York, the large main room holds many of his most famous designs.

I personally can vividly remember his bright green graffiti print from 1988 and it was fun to see it in person. My sister and I admired it in the pages of Vogue when we were little and I remember his stuff always stood out against other more serious and less fun (in my 10 year old eyes) designers like Armani.

Downstairs a dark room features his bold sketches under black light and upstairs more videos play from his often raucous shows. I found the huge wall of personal Polaroids the most fascinating. Not only is it neat to see candid shots of his famous friends like Debbie Harry just hanging out, but it makes the whole art movement he was a part of seem more real and identifiable. In snapshots, they all looked no different from my friends and I, having fun and creating things.

While his clothes are time capsules of a very specific new york moment, his partnership with Target and Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton brought the fashion bad boy – who bridged uptown fashion with downtown crazy – into the modern limelight. Sadly, he succumbed to complications of lung cancer soon after the Vuitton revival and Soho lost one of it's creators.

Now with a fancy coffee table book and Marc Jacobs releasing his We Love Sprouse homage, he's back again, and probably just in time. With the economy getting everyone down, we all could use a bit more neon distraction.

Also, I was solely excited because the Joker face host of Fashion Television was there to shoot a piece. No one else knew who she was though…

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Posted on January 26, 2009

On lazy days we will just burn through crap on that roku: five minutes each of Domino, Dragon Wars: D Wars, Rhinestone (Stallone and Dolly together at last in a movie based on a song) and The Brothers Solomon which is all one could bare to sit through. When we put on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, I expected about the same level of horridness, but instead found myself pleasantly entertained.

It's not quite as good as The V miniseries, partially because there is no asshole on the edge performance by Marc Singer – though Gil Gerard– who plays Buck does possess a more subtle Texas style swagger, but it has a similar vibe and it's a vibe I like.

I'd always heard the name Buck Rogers as a cultural reference, most often when Daffy Duck would spoof the original 1928 sci fi character by Philip Francis Nowlan who appeared in comic books, radio plays and two television shows until this 1979 series. Somehow I managed to never see any of these incarnations until now.

As with any decades old science fiction you have to give way to and enjoy some cheesy aspects. This is a very interesting view of the far future, that mostly looks like bits and pieces of other sci fi movies which is not surprising since the show was green lit to capitalized on the success of Star Wars and lots of the props were actually hand me downs from Battlestar Galactica.

So there's lots of LED lights, shiny tight costumes, and a healthy handful of late era disco – never have I seen such a dazzling array of costume store looking mustaches on a cast of extras in my life.

The sultry bad girl Queen Ardala is a Playboy.. or no make that Hustle type vixen (though as far as I know, actress Pamela Hensley never modeled for either) with a few mind blowing outfits with fringe and horns. The good girl love interest is played by the bright eyed Erin Gray, already with that sitcom mom look that she later perfected on Silver Spoons.

The real star though, is the tiny tin pageboy robot named Twiki, who carries the virtuous HAL like device “Doctor Theopolis” on his tummy but breaks out a few odd one liners in his own robotic Yosemite Sam voice like: “whatta body!” in between his beedeebeedeebeedee chatter.

What I watched was the two hour pilot, which actually played in theaters before the series began and it and the entire series is available on netflix instantly.

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Posted on January 26, 2009

Garrett Brown has a resume to impress that includes dozens of major films like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Rocky, Xanadu, and, undoubtedly one of the most amazing movies ever made, The Shining. I recently watched the new Blu Ray disc which not only features an amazing HD transfer of Kubrick's horror masterpiece, it also includes a commentary track from Brown, which is how I became an instant admirer of the man. See, not only was he the primary Steadicam operator for every movie that employed one for a couple decades, he invented the thing.

A Steadicam is defined as:

A stabilizing mount for a motion picture camera, which mechanically isolates the operator's movement from the camera, allowing a very smooth shot even when the operator is moving quickly over an uneven surface.

It revolutionized filmmaking and the essence of its genius can be seen in those famous shots tracking Danny as he wheels around the halls of the Overlook Hotel, though he invented the stabilizing mechanism while shooting Bound for Glory. Brown's commentary on the impressive new Blu Ray edition of the Shining is extremely interesting and informative. Since his initial stroke of genius that earned him a technical Oscar, he has also invented:

FlyCam: A closed loop, stabilized tracking camera system

SkyCam: The first suspended flying camera system.

DiveCam: The first dropping vertical camera system.

GoCam: The ultra-light high speed camera tracking system.

SuperFlyCam: An ultra-light stabilized 35mm wire-borne flying camera.

MobyCam: The first submarine tracking camera system.

MoleCam: Coming Soon to a Field Beneath You!

This man is awesome.

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Posted on January 26, 2009

There's a certain comfort in the predictability of an Elmore Leonard novel. You can always expect snappy dialogue; a likable hero; a slew of dim witted criminals (usually one of which is far more dangerous than the others); at least one femme fatale or otherwise duplicitous lady; and the kind of smart, fun writing that this wildly prolific author is known for.

In La Brava, a 1983 novel set in the faded glory of Miami, the likable hero is a former secret service agent turned photographer (because Leonard's novels typically spawn film adaptations, I saw Eric Bana), the femme fatale is a cunning former Film Noir star (a raven-haired Michelle Pfeiffer, perhaps), and the criminals include a gigantic, very dumb rent-a-cop looking to use maximum force (what about Triple H – Hunter Hearst Helmsley) and a flamboyant, Go-Go dancing long haired Cuban whose not afraid to murder anyone (authentically, Guillermo D’az, but if they wanted to stick with the Hollywood tradition of using non ethnic actors, Justin Theroux who, as you'll read further down, made a mighty fine Jesus in The Ten).

I won't divulge the plot here because you'll get much more satisfaction unraveling the faked kidnappings, double crosses, love affairs, and failed plans yourself but, suffice to say, this is a quality entry in the Leonard oeuvre.

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Posted on January 26, 2009

As mentioned, I'm no pastry fanatic. Moreover, I strongly dislike nuts.?But it is wonderful to be convinced to change your opinion of something. I made this pie last thanksgiving, considering only the tastes of others, to unequivocal success. And I am ashamed to admit, if I'd no self-control I could eat an entire one.

The following is the recipe I roughly followed. You may choose to make your own crust, or use a pre-made, either will be delectable.

Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
6 tablespoons (or more) ice water

Filling:
6 large eggs
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 1/3 cups light corn syrup
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup bourbon (such as Maker's Mark)
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
4 cups (about 16 ounces) pecan halves, toasted, very coarsely chopped

For crust:
Blend both flours, sugar, and salt in processor. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add lemon juice, then 6 tablespoons ice water; process just until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Divide dough in half. Gather each half into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap separately in plastic. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made ahead and refrigerated up to 2 days or frozen up to 1 month. If frozen, thaw in refrigerator before using.

Roll out 1 dough disk on floured surface to 13 1/2- to 14-inch round, about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer dough to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Trim excess dough, leaving 3/4-inch overhang. Turn overhang under and crimp edge decoratively. Repeat with second dough disk. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

For filling:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350?F. Whisk eggs in large bowl. Whisk in both sugars, then next 5 ingredients. Stir in pecans. Divide filling between prepared crusts.

Bake pies until filling is puffed and just set in center (filling may begin to crack), about 55 minutes. Cool pies completely on rack. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with foil; store at room temperature.

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Posted on January 19, 2009