TODAY IN NETWORK AWESOME MAGAZINE

Watching this movie made me sad, to be honest. Not for any reason attached to the film, its stars or its story, but rather for the window into a past New York City that I remember but that just isn’t there anymore. Set autobiographically in the early 1980s post-punk splendor that was the dirty, sinful, dangerous and irresistible Lower East Side of New York City, Downtown 81 (directed by Edo Betoglio, writtenproduced by Glenn O’Brien) tells the story of superstar artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and his 24 hour quest for $422.60.

The film starts with Jean-Michel Basquiat coming to in a hospital, following some kind of accident/injury/disease. We never find out, but its not really germane to the story...

What if nobody was having any fun, but then you just had to dance?

Enter The Rapture. (The band, not the religious experience.)

The turn of the century (wow!—remember that?) gave us some pretty good art party garage guitar weirdness (The Strokes, The Von Bondies, Franz Ferdinand, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Interpol…whatever). But, there was also The Chemical Brothers and The Crystal Method, Massive Attack, Fatboy Slim, trip hop beats and the continuation of rave…dancing until you just couldn’t stop. But, what if you needed a good laugh?

Enter The Rapture (The band)...

I look at soft core porn the way I imagine most mathematicians probably look at abacuses. Like, I get what it's for and understand its importance and all, but it doesn't mean anyone over the age of 14 is going to watch it. And though yes, films like Lord of the G String are still being made, I think that being caught with a copy is more likely to result in a laugh than a scowl.

The same goes for exercise tapes. People in the 70's and 80's might have been down to get sweaty and look like fools on their shag carpets in front of their TVs, but find me one person who uses them (or shag carpets, for that matter) today and I'll buy you a gym membership.

However, while they may be totally useless when looked at separately, blended together they become something else; something part leotard, part fake boob and part shirt that appears to be made from the fabric of a waiting room couch which barely covers up the wearer's crotch.

In short, they become Eroticise...

Most car accidents happen close to home, a truism that holds up in space travel. The actual travel itself has proved much less fatal than actually getting there and back, which requires nerves and heat shields and complex math. Out of the hundreds of manned missions we’ve sent into space, including a number that required astronauts to untether themselves in low earth orbit and nine that actually sent them to (or around) the moon, the only people to have actually died in space were the unlucky cosmonauts of Soyuz 11, who perished when a valve jolted loose during preparations for re-entry. The three men, none of whom were wearing full protective suits at the time, asphyxiated within seconds from the rapid loss of pressure inside their capsule...

A frog, a bear, a pig, and a whatever make for a strange mix of characters to serve as the core group of a popular prime-time series; yet this group -- Kermit, Fozzie, Miss Piggy, and Gonzo -- along with their felt, fur, and feather-covered cohorts brought a mix of workplace and vaudevillian comedy to television screens from 1976 to 1981.  Thirty years later fans still watch the old shows, buy DVD compilations, and eagerly await another big screen appearance by the Muppets.  What is it about the Muppets that keeps fans coming back for more?  The answer is as diverse as the Muppets themselves, and it begins with one man’s fascination with television.

Jim Henson’s fascination with television has been chronicled in a number of books including Christopher Finch’s Jim Henson: The Works - The Art, the Magic, the Imagination and Of Muppets and Men: The Making of the Muppet Show. These books explore Henson's early forays into the possibilities of using puppets on television.  In 1955 Henson produced and performed in a 5-minute series called Sam and Friends.  The series became a way for him to work out skits and perfect puppets as well as explore the new medium of television...