A Little of the Old In and Out



(image via siu.edu)

In: Gordon Parks. Parks was as versatile a filmmaker as he was a photographer with a lyrical style. Besides Fashion photography at Vogue under Alexander Liebman, Parks also made the most famous blaxploitation film of all time "Shaft," as well as the richly textured biopic -- before biopics were all the rage -- "Leadbelly."He was an accomplished photojournalist who captured in touching portraits some of Europe's great artists and celebrities in the postwar --think: La Doilde Vita -- era, including: Louis Armstrong, Alexander Calder, Duke Ellington, Marcel Duchamp, Gloria Vanderbilt, Ingrid Bergman and Alberto Giacometti. According to Medialifemagazine:

"His was a story to inspire anyone, particularly in the decades he helped make famous with his camera. Raised amid poverty and racism in Fort Scott, Kan., in 1912, the youngest son of 15 children, Gordon Parks defied it all to become a true American storyteller, working in pictures, words and music. He did it through raw determination, a vision he never allowed to rest, and incredible talent.

"Parks died yesterday, at age 93, at his home in Manhattan. No cause of death was made public, but Parks had cancer and his health had been failing for some time.

"Early on, Parks was best known as the first black person to work as a staff photographer at Life magazine, the most important and popular picture magazine of its day. He worked there from 1948 until 1972, and his poignant features on race and poverty, combined with elegant fashion and celebrity spreads, became the foundation of his reputation as a leading image-maker.

"Parks also was the first African-American to direct and produce a major movie, 'The Learning Tree,' in 1969. He developed the movie from his own best-selling 1963 novel of the same name.

"It was a semi-autobiographical tale of a bright and sensitive teenager living through love, loss and racism during the 1920s in Kansas. The film was one of the first 25 movies chosen in 1989 by the Library of Congress to be kept in the National Film Registry."

RIP, Gordon Parks.



(image via cnn)

Out: Louisiana, Red State Even as the President asks for billions from Conress, there is a curious school of thought that runs contrary to the conventional wisdom that the mass exodus of African-Americans from New Orleans would metamorphose Louisiana electorally from deep purple to Republican red. According to that perfect Dickensian villain, Robert Novak:

"President Bush's visit to Katrina-ravaged Louisiana on Wednesday follows six months of bungling that threatens political catastrophe for the state's Republicans. He will boost his belated $4.2 billion plan finally to provide housing for people made homeless by the storm, but it may be too little, too late. The government's post-hurricane performance has been a mess, and Republicans get the blame.

"Rep. Richard Baker, a 10-term conservative Republican member from Baton Rouge with a 91 percent pro-Bush voting record, sat down with me last week to talk politics frankly: 'The backlash is unknowable, but it is a big concern. When we go from a Republican White House to a Republican Congress to a Republican Senate to a majority of Republicans in the state congressional delegation, we are viewed as in charge. We are being measured by this storm response and by what Republicans do to help poor people.'

"That bleak assessment turns on its head simplistic analysis after Katrina that predicted evacuation of Democratic-voting African Americans to the far corners of the nation would turn Louisiana into a deep red Republican state. On the contrary, the performance of the last six months may return the state to Democratic blue. Quite apart from who was at fault for an inadequate immediate response to the storm, Republicans are blamed for what has happened since then."



(image via dailyramblings)

In: Frances Bean Cobain. As cool as Rumor Willis is, it's Francis Bean's time to shine in the sun. According to Fashionweekdaily:

"She may have been denied entrance to an exclusive girls� school, (no) thanks to her mother�s old habits, but Frances Bean Cobain�daughter of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain�could soon find solace in the arms of Stella McCartney.

"After posing for photos with Love backstage following her show in Paris last week, McCartney turned to the Hole rocker and said, 'Have her come and do an internship. We have internships for the summer.'"



Douchy. (image via paulmccoyaddict)

Out: Scott Stapp's dumb ass. Although we do expect our rock stars to do stupid things like get their sex tapes circulating in the public marketplace, we would never -- ever -- trust such an intimate production in the douchy hands of Scott Stapp. From AOLMusic (via ohnotheydidnt):

"PeteInMusic: so what are you screwing around with? Is your life a nonstop party like TV makes it out to be?

"Livetrucker123 (Kid Rock's Handle): Disneyland on wheels

"PeteInMusic: who plays snow white? Are you prince charming?

"Livetrucker123: prince charming snorted snow white

"PeteInMusic: haha

"PeteInMusic: I'm guessing you won't be using video cameras in your sex life anymore

"Livetrucker123: I never used them to begin with. that was Scott Stapp's dumb ass"