Mike Mitchell - Crazy4Cult 4 Poster

Crazy4Cult,  is an annual art show by Gallery 1988 in LA.   This past year’s show was in July and after seeing a few of the popular pieces, it’s a must see for next summer.

Rich Pellegrino's "Mr. Sobchak" from "The Big Lebowski"

Interestingly enough, a good amount of the art is available online.  For the film buff with an inclination for modern art, this is worth a look.  Click on the pictures to go to Gallery 1988’s website.

Each print is available in two sizes, 8.5 x 11 inches and 13 x 19 inches for $25 and $75. And the edition number is just 50 prints.

And then there are zombies.

AMC knows how to package a creative phenomena that appeared to be running it’s course.

Here’s a trailer for AMC’s upcoming drama? horror?  series “The Walking Dead”. It’s another graphic novel adaptation about an apocalyptic near future chock- full of  voracious zombies. A trailer was shown at the most recent Comic Con and now it’s available for full release.

It looks pretty scary and should be another nice hit for AMC.  Look for the 90 minute premier on Oct 31st, of course.

Cassat has created a menagerie of animals that may have been cute, back in the day.  The eyes and body language of his bunnies, narwhals and ducks convey heavy drinking, depression and excess.  (Not unlike much of the DailyHelping readership).  The drawings found on both his personal website and a tumblr are a unique pleasure.  Check out both sites and enjoy.

Editors Note: Captions are from DailyHelping and not from the artist.

"Sumthin' ain't kosher" he wheezed.

"For me, it's PBR or nuthin."

Those that have seen it are loving it, and having seen the trailer, it’s got that same “Cloverfield” feel to it…surprisingly effective.  Fans of the Korean hit, “The Host” may also find this up their alley.

This is the international trailer for the movie no one seems to know anything about….”Monsters”.

(The “kiss” seems to be part of some drugged, dream-like sequence if the trailer wasn’t intentionally deceptive, and they usually aren’t).

Well now here’s the trailer and it’s everything you could want and expect from a psychological thriller in the very ugly world of professional ballet.

The Coen’s have put together quite a cast. (One can imagine that most A-listers line up to get a part in their efforts). Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper and Hailee Steinfeld  as a young girl who secures the expertise of old, oft-drunk U.S. Marshal, Rooster J. Cogburn (Bridges) and young Texas Ranger, La Boeuf (Damon) to track down her father’s killer, Tom Chaney (Brolin), who has taken to a gang led by “Lucky” Ned Pepper (Pepper).

Apparently Matt Damon hadn’t seen the John Wayne version and hadn’t realized his part was played by Country and Western star, Glen Campbell, in what would be his first and  last dramatic role.

He told Entertainment Weekly: “The only reason I know I’m playing Glenn Campbell’s old part is that people keep asking me if I’m going to be singing in the movie. But our movie is totally different. Joel & Ethan just stumbled upon the book and were like, ‘Oh God, this is terrific. The dialogue is just fantastic!’ ”

There’s nothing more enjoyable than a well-scripted western. From Deadwood to The Unforgiven, this is something to look forward to on December 25th, (other than Christmas).

Apparently Mr. West has recently discovered Twitter and is prolific in sharing his never ending flow of wisdom, social commentary and unfettered stream of consciousness.  So random and odd are some of his “tweets” that he’s quickly become a widely followed scribe.

On their own, the “self-absorbed one” puts out  entertaining bits of fluff…but paired as a caption to a random New Yorker cartoon, the result is gold. Kanye gold.

Click on the cartoon for more.

Paolo Bacigalupi has expanded upon his earlier short fiction work, “The Calorie Man” ( Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and “Yellow Card Man” (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) to create a darkly complex and mesmerizing post-petroleum future.  It’s not so much a cautionary tale as it is an urban nightmare filled with decay, poverty and genetic terrorism. Set in a very crowded and apparently, sinking Thailand, the novel moves about with varied, compelling perspectives.

At the risk of sharing too much about the book, the overall premise is this…

Environmental destruction has exceeded Al Gore’s worst nightmare.  Ecological mainstays have collapsed and the world’s food supplies are in grave danger (the source of actual calories becomes  a monetary staple making world economies dependent on basic sustenance).  In a vicious cycle, Calorie conglomerates offer sterile seeds at high prices while bio-engineered “accidents” unleash horrific diseases and insects obliterating competing foods and driving up the costs of seeds, let alone food.  The world’s calorie markets become a dangerous, high stakes business.

The novel has ghosts, plague, bio-engineered sex dolls, Gestapo-like military police, roving chameleon-like tigers, political intrigue and all under a suffocating jungle heat.

Go out and get “The Windup Girl” by Paolo Bacigalupi, and treat yourself to a mesmerizing reading experience.

On Tuesday, Playboy Enterprises Inc. launched a website that will be cleaned up and safe to browse.  Even conscious of the implied message that their name and logo conjure, the site will go by a more palatable name.  TheSmokingJacket.com. (More like Hef, less like the Girls Next Door)

TheSmokingJacket.com will contain no nudity instead go with  humor to reach Playboy’s target demographic, men 25 to 34 years old. They also tend to send a lot of cartoons and jokes online.

“A lot of our audience logs on (to Playboy.com) after work and we saw that we were missing a golden opportunity to reach guys when they’re online the most: when they’re sitting at their desk, not working, sending e-mails to their friends,” said Jimmy Jellinek, Playboy’s editorial director.

The site, named after one of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner’s favorite pieces of clothing (silkpajamas.com was taken), won’t include the long interviews or in-depth articles found in Playboy. Think People magazine but more fun.

The site will still tease. This is still Playboy, after all and man doesn’t live on dirty viral jokes and Axe ads alone .  There will be  some pictorials that are relatively tame by comparison to the parent online magazine Playboy.com. the Playboy archives with photographs like those from the 1983 Playmate Playoffs, in which bathing suit-clad women competed in games such as a tug-of-war. The idea that you can just forget about the site while at work is somewhat foolish as well. The large print article headers still boldy declare that they can provide you with “7 Signs You’ve Given Up On Getting Laid”.

“The ideal is to be … the go-to site for those who are bored at work,” said Matt Gibbs, the lead producer of the site.

Because “Playboy” is just the kind of word that has companies putting up firewalls to keep their workers’ minds on their jobs, the only thing in the name that suggests Playboy is behind the site are the bunny ears inside the ‘o’ in “TheSmokingJacket.”

The site will be updated continually in the hopes that men will return to it throughout the work day.