A Little of the Old In and Out



(Cezannes "Les joueurs de cartes" via impressionistartprints)

In: Pioneering Modern Painting: The MoMa Exhibition. Being an frisky Gemini with a Libra Moon, The Corsair loves life's little binary equations, especially when they concern Venusian aesthetics (Venus being ruler of Libra). Much has been said of the friendship-competition between Picasso and Matisse, those 20th century art world colossi bestriding the globe. The artistic friendship between Cezanne and Pissaro another, though less volcanic and competetive. According to Hilton Kramer, who himself is not entirely without detractors in the art world, in the salmon colored weekly:

"There�s nothing like sharing a public humiliation to create a powerful bond between the most independent minds, and Cezanne and Pissarro were nothing if not independent. Yet such bonds also have a way of stimulating anxiety and doubt, especially self-doubt. As soon as we come upon the passage in the exhibition catalog in which Cezanne declares, 'As for the old Pissarro, he was a father to me. He was a man you could turn to for advice; he was something like God,' we sense that this is a bond destined to be frayed.

"In the halcyon days of their association, however, Cezanne and Pissarro drew a good deal of strength and inspiration from each other�s work, and in organizing this exhibition Joachim Pissarro has done a wonderful job of matching (so to speak) the paintings that underscore shared affinities.

"... Despite the close affinities, they were, after all, painters of quite different sensibilities. There is in Pissarro�s oeuvre a softness, a delicacy, a radiant shimmer that�s not to be found in Cezanne, whose touch is so much more emphatic. In the end, as Joachim Pissarro observes, 'Pissarro is about to jump from the Cezannian boat and catch the Neo-Impressionist boat, while Cezanne is about to launch his solitary experiment that will lead him to develop and expose his new �truth in painting��which, from our perspective, can be seen as a prophecy of Cubism."
The full article here. Press info on the MoMa here.



(image via ardenwebsales)

Out: The Aging of the Evening Network News. As the audience of the network news ages not unlike a fine cheese, the commercials aired during said broadcast follow the decline with a sublime ghoulishness. Seriously, though: Even the older viewer cannot enjoy these all too sober reminders of one's own mortality, can they? According to the Old Gray Lady (link via wonkette):

"With the illness and death of Peter Jennings, the longtime anchor of 'World News Tonight' on ABC, the faces that front all three TV newscasts have changed in less than a year. With so many viewers deciding who will deliver their daily 22-minute dose of news, agency executives say, the almost $500 million spent each year on 'World News Tonight,' 'CBS Evening News' and 'NBC Nightly News' could be up for grabs.

"'As far as advertisers are concerned, it's always going to be about the ratings,' said Michael D. Drexler, chief executive at Optimedia International U.S. in New York, part of the ZenithOptimedia media agency unit of the Publicis Groupe. 'And who watches network news now is as much about the personalities reporting the stories as it is about the stories.'

"But ad dollars are unlikely to leave ABC for CBS or NBC - or any other permutation or combination of choices among the three, for that matter. Instead, the trend that has lasted for decades of declining - and aging - viewerships for the newscasts is expected to continue.

"... 'There is still a generation served their news nightly with their cocktails, and they like it,' said Bill McOwen, executive vice president and managing director for national broadcast at MPG in New York, a media agency owned by Havas. 'And till that generation moves on, there will be clients who want to reach them.'"

Depressing, to be sure. Decompressing with the evening news is tough enough work to slough through, what with all the stories on the War on Terror, the famine in Niger, Iran's nuclear ambitions, the stalemate over the 6-party multilateral North Korean nuclear talks, the rise of China and the political instability surrounding the impending Gaza pullout without having to face the incessant appeals to Viagra, and all those other assorted advertisements for the thwarting the skeletal embrace of The Grim Reaper.

Thanks, but no thatks Gods of the Evening News; we'll pass on the nightly dose of mortality and get our news online, thank you very much!



(image via lenny-kravitz)

In: Nicole Kidman ... is Black. And no, we don't mean Kidman is "the new black"; rather, quite literally, we mean she is "in the heezy" black. And we're not just talking about the whole loving Anthony Hopkins as a DL Black man in "The Human Stain." Nicole likes her men like she likes her coffee black, nah mean? That alabaster hue notwithstanding, consider this: the romances with Q-Tip and Lenny Kravitz, and now, according to those intrepid Page Sixxies and their wonderful Sightings, lemmegetawitness:

"NICOLE Kidman jumping out of her front-row seat at the Garden, grabbing her crotch and dancing 'hip-hop style' to Eminem."

Deniroesque, to be sure. Stay tuned, dear readers, for our next installment of The New "Urban" KidmanWatch (tm), in which Nicole Kidman carries her own personal bottle of tabasco sauce to Koi's.



(image via usweekly)

Out: Sloppy Seconds. It's all so "meta." Yesterday, the great Michael Musto blasted the tabloids for running cover stories on the scoop of another magazine. Now, Radar gets in on the act, saying:

"Magazine insiders say Vanity Fair is cracking down on staff security after its latest issue fell into the hands of notorious paparazzo Phil Ramey, allowing the sleazy lensman to shop around unreleased copies of its Jennifer Aniston cover to the highest bidder.

"'Someone at Vanity Fair must have slipped an advance copy to Ramey, because he had the whole magazine and sent scans of all the Aniston pages to anyone who would pay,' says our source.

"While most tabs passed on the Leslie Bennetts exclusive, we hear other rags, like Life & Style and the British tabloid the Sun, couldn't wait to get their hands on Aniston's first words about her awkward, very public split from Brad Pitt and paid thousands of dollars for the story just days before the mag's official Monday, Aug. 1 press release date.

"'It's a nightmare in the office,' says one VF staffer. 'No one knows how this man got a copy of the magazine or how this all leaked so fast. We had a harder time keeping this under wraps than Deep Throat!'"

In which, dear readers, Vanity Fair scooped the Washington Post on their own proprietary exclusive. The full story here.



(image via teachpol)

In: American Ingenuity. You have to see this to believe it. American puritanical ingenuity and old fashioned gumption here has gone horribly, horribly awry: "The Smoking Gun is proud to present this sampling of kooky, classic, and bizarre patent filings--all of which have been granted by federal officials."

There is a continuous unbroken thread that goes from Ben Franklin to Ron Popeil to, well, to the thrify inventor of lightweight sexual assault deterrents. The Corsair's favorite examples of good ole American ingenuity (or is it American wierdness) include: The Crack-Cocaine Board game; Doggy Diapers; Ergonomic underwear which, Cindy Michaels of Altamont Springs, Florida, insists, "fits snugly about a man's body with leg openings of such size as to provide comfort to the wearer; and something so Medieval ... we'd rather forget that we even read about it. Really and truly.



(image via Thisislondon)

Out: Pete Doherty, Freak. He's been gnawing on the glass dick for far too long to be saved. Still, Kate Moss thinks she is just the person. Message to Kate Moss: Get out of that relationship, fast! The door is just past the pungent cracksmoke! Oh no: Too late. They're on again; According to Ireland Online:

"Babyshambles frontman Doherty most recently split with Moss after last month's Live 8 concert in London, during which he gave a widely criticised, shambolic performance.

"And, following a week in which he was arrested for allegedly punching a British newspaper journalist, Doherty is said to have made a desperate cry for help by smashing up his guitar and setting a bed alight.

"An insider tells British newspaper The Sun: 'It's been a tough few weeks for Pete. He split with Kate, sacked his manager and got arrested for fighting a reporter.'

"Things came to a head at the weekend. He was so frustrated he smashed up a guitar and set fire to his bed.' Kate got to hear about it and let him come and stay. She still thinks she can sort out Pete and all his problems.'"

The Corsair prefers to "set fire to his bed" only on the occasion that a cute chick is 'neath the sheets. Rrrow. But we digress.

Something tells me that that product is damaged beyond repair, Kate.



(image via dxmichael)

In: HBO to the Cellphone? Sopranos via Cingular? "The Wire" via the wireless? According to Newsweek (link via iwantmedia):

"In a broad undertaking that would launch one of the premium show-business brands on to the mobile Internet, HBO and Cingular Wireless are holding talks to create a wireless-content distribution arrangement, according to sources close to the negotiations. A deal would mark one of the most extensive agreements to date between a content producer and a wireless telecom giant.

"Under terms now being negotiated, Cingular would, among other things, offer access to HBO programming that has been customized for wireless devices, say these sources. HBO, which is owned by Time Warner, may also create new entertainment channels for the Cingular Wireless media service. There might be channels, for instance, devoted to comedy or designed to appeal to specific groups of customers. HBO might even supply video games for the Cingular service."