June 3, 2011
Stella is a comedy trio consisting of Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black, and David Wain (all three of whom are alumni of the comedy troupe, The State). The group formed in 1997 as a weekly nightclub comedy attraction, performing at a New York City nightclub from 1997 until 2005. Stella soon gained a wider cult following after a series of self-produced shorts were released in limited quantities on DVD. Now known for their unique blend of potently mainstream comedy and surrealist humor, Stella has garnered a small but dedicated fanbase.
A noted aspect of Stella’s stand-up routine involved the members arguing with each other on stage. Michael Ian Black once referred to it as, ‘professional bickering,’ which some have compared to a ‘postmodern Smothers Brothers.’ Michael Showalter once said of their onstage bickering, ‘When people aren’t sure if what they’re watching is real or not, it kind of creates a tension. We have a certain amount of tension that’s very ripe comedically.’
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June 3, 2011
The Moon Museum is a small ceramic wafer three-quarters of an inch by half an inch in size, containing artworks by six prominent artists from the late 1960s. The artists with works in the ‘museum’ are Robert Rauschenberg, David Novros, John Chamberlain, Claes Oldenburg, Forrest Myers, and Andy Warhol.
This wafer was supposedly covertly attached to a leg of the Intrepid landing module, and subsequently left on the moon during Apollo 12. The moon museum is considered the first Space Art object. While it is impossible to tell if the Moon Museum is actually on the moon without sending another mission to look, many other personal effects were smuggled onto the Apollo 12 lander and hidden in the layers of gold blankets that wrapped parts of the spacecraft.
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June 3, 2011
Claes Oldenburg (b. 1929) is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects. Another theme in his work is soft sculpture versions of everyday objects. He first opened his own studio in 1953, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States that year as well.
Many of Oldenburg’s large-scale sculptures of mundane objects elicited public ridicule before being embraced as whimsical, insightful, and fun additions to public outdoor art. In the 1960s he became associated with the Pop Art movement and created many so-called happenings, which were performance art related productions of that time. The name he gave to his own productions was ‘Ray Gun Theater.’
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May 26, 2011
Todd Schorr (b. 1954) is an American artist and one of the most prominent members of the ‘Lowbrow’ art movement or pop surrealism. His work combines a cartoon visual vocabulary with painting methods of the Old Masters with large canvases (+80″), and is darkly satirical.
His piece, ‘Clash of Holidays,’ aroused controversy when it was exhibited in 2002. It depicts Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny locked in mortal combat. Santa’s wielding an axe, and the rabbit has a knife. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Baby Jesus, who’s munching on an ear from a chocolate rabbit, stand by. Schorr was accused of blasphemy by civic leaders in South Florida. ‘It was just a joke, really, like lot of my paintings that poke fun at things,’ comments Schorr, who completed the piece in 2000, then sold it to Courteney Cox.
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May 26, 2011
Snakes on a Plane is a 2006 American action and horror film starring Samuel L. Jackson, which follows the events of hundreds of snakes being released on a passenger plane in an attempt to kill a trial witness. During filming, Jackson did not come into contact with any live snakes, due to a contract clause preventing snakes from being within 25 feet (8 m) of the actor. The story is credited to David Dalessandro, a first-time Hollywood writer. He developed the concept in 1992 after reading a nature magazine article about tree snakes climbing onto planes in cargo during World War II.
Taking advantage of the Internet buzz for what had been a minor film in their 2006 line-up, New Line Cinema ordered five days of additional shooting. While re-shoots normally imply problems with a film, the producers opted to add new scenes to the film to change the PG-13 rating to R and bring it in line with growing fan expectations. The most notable addition was a revision of a catchphrase from the film that was parodied on the Internet by fans of the film, capitalizing on Jackson’s typically foul-mouthed and violent film persona: ‘Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!’
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May 25, 2011
Alex Pardee (b. 1976) is a freelance artist and writer born in California. He runs the website EyeSuck Ink. Through his art he has admitted to overcoming depression and anxiety disorders along with emotional struggles.
He uses pens, ink, watercolors, dye, acrylics, oils, and latex. Pardee’s influences include 1980s horror movies, pop art, graffiti and gangster rap.
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May 25, 2011
Randy Marsh is a character on the US TV show, ‘South Park.’ His name is derived from series co-creator Trey Parker’s father, and Parker describes Randy as ‘the biggest dingbat in the entire show.’ Randy is voiced by Parker.
The show established Randy and his wife Sharon as being a couple as young adults during the flower power era. Their marriage has not been without its frequent arguments, which are usually instigated when Sharon is annoyed, ashamed, or disgusted by Randy’s eccentricities. The two even once went through a brief divorce. After quickly entering a new relationship, Sharon realized how much she was still in love with Randy, and the two promptly reconciled. Randy and Sharon tend to showcase liberal viewpoints, having protested the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supported Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential race.
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May 25, 2011
Creed Bratton (b. 1943) is an American actor and musician best known for playing a fictional version of himself on the American adaptation of ‘The Office.’ Born William Charles Schneider, he grew up in a small California town near Yosemite National Park.
His grandparents, mother, and father were musicians, and he took a liking to music at a very early age. He became a professional musician during his high school and college years. He decided to try life as a traveling musician and made his way on a global excursion, during which he changed his name to Creed Bratton. He traveled through Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Appearing with his group the ‘Young Californians,’ he played guitar at a large folk festival in Israel.
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May 25, 2011
Richard Frank Oznowicz (b. 1944) , better known as Frank Oz is an American film director and puppeteer who is known for creating and performing the characters Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and Animal in ‘The Muppet Show’ and for directing films, including the 1986 ‘Little Shop Of Horrors’ remake and ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.’ He is also the operator and voice of Yoda in the Star Wars series, as well as Grover, Cookie Monster, Sam Eagle, and Bert on Sesame Street.
In addition to performing a variety of characters, Oz has been one of the primary collaborators responsible for the development of the Muppets over the last 30 years. His puppetry work spans from 1963 to the present, though he has retired from the Muppets. His Muppets were taken over by Eric Jacobson, though Oz still performs his characters on occasion. He also worked with the puppets on the movie Labyrinth, starring David Bowie.
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May 21, 2011
A doodle is an unfocused drawing made while a person’s attention is otherwise occupied. They are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be abstract shapes.
Doodling can aid a person’s memory by expending just enough energy to keep one from daydreaming, which demands a lot of the brain’s processing power, as well as from not paying attention. Thus, it acts as a mediator between the spectrum of thinking too much or thinking too little and helps focus on the current situation.
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May 20, 2011
RTMark is an activist collective that attempts to subverts the ‘Corporate Shield’ protecting US corporations.
The name is derived from ‘Registered Trademark.’ RTMark claimed as its first prank the ‘Barbie Liberation Organization,’ in which the voiceboxes of talking Barbie and G.I. Joe toys were swapped, and the toys then returned to the store (1993).
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May 20, 2011
An adult prom is a social event that is almost perfectly similar to a high school prom in terms of themes and attire, except that adult proms usually serve alcohol, and most require those attending to be at least 21 years of age to attend. They have become increasingly common, especially in the United States, and usually are hosted as fundraisers for charities.
A slightly different take on the adult prom is that of the disabilities prom, dedicated to providing a prom experience to disabled adults at no charge to the attendees. These events are most often organized by non-profit organizations focusing on the disabled, or large churches.
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