Victor Demarchelier Debuts Solo Show, Talks Shooting Ex-Girlfriend Caroline Trentini

>> Victor Demarchelier's first solo New York show, "Creating Images," opens today at Clic Gallery, featuring 20 pieces taken over the past few years. Demarchelier, son of Patrick Demarchelier, describes the mostly black-and-white collection as "very personal" - works included range from a still-life shot of his childhood teddy bear to a number of topless photos of Caroline Trentini, his girlfriend of three years, of whom he says: “I’ll tell her about a shot before we go to the studio and then two out of three times she says ‘No.’” Victor, 25, who has photographed for Vogue Paris, Interview, and 25, only minimally retouches his images: “I like when they’re rough. I don’t always spot them; that way they’re more like a piece of art. The accidents can be beautiful, too.” And he currently shares a studio space in Chelsea with his father. “We like to talk to each other while the other one is shooting. Sometimes we definitely get on each other’s nerves,” he laughs.

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Ousted director’s supporters plot great instauration at Royal Institution

The fight for the future of Britain’s Royal Institution has heated up again, with a group of rebel members attempting to reinstate its controversial former director Susan Greenfield. Greenfield was made redundant earlier this year and has since begun legal action against the RI, alleging sexual discrimination. Now her supporters have triggered a special general meeting at which RI members will vote on a proposal to replace the entire board of trustees (who made Greenfield’s redundant in the first place). However, the Times says that the letter sent out yesterday to members regarding the meeting contains a “unanimous recommendation to members to vote against the resolution”. The RI is in a financially precarious position at the moment and there are fears that potential funders will shy away should the coup succeed. “The wholesale replacement of the council and officers at this time would create further unnecessary instability,” says Chris Rofe, chief executive officer of the institution (Times). A spokeswoman for the RI confirmed that all members would be invited to attend the 12 April meeting where the rebel plans would be voted on. Past coverage The Royal Institution's troubles continue – 12 February Greenfield ousted from Royal Institution – 11 January Royal Institution faces cash crisis – 16 December Royal Institution spat hits the media – 08 December Image: photograph of the RI by Matt From London via Flickr under Creative Commons.

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In Oak Cliff Today, the Kids Were Putting a Fresh Coat of Paint on Bishop Arts

Nick Rallo​For all the talk of Oak Cliff becoming "the city's new leading edge," there's still much work to be done. Jason and Andrea Roberts -- organizers of the Oak Cliff Art Crawl, as well as Bike Friendly Oak Cliff and Photopl.us -- look around even the Bishop Arts District and see much work to be done: razor wire in need of trimming, trash in need of clearing and graffiti in need of erasing. And so, on this perfect Saturday, while St.Paddy's merrymakers paraded up and down Greenville Avenue -- and we'll have photos and more from that in the morning -- the couple and other like-minded Cliffdwellers took their protest and paintbrushes to the streets. Children from four Dallas Independent School District elementary schools sprawled beneath the empty Kavala Grill -- whose ancient-looking marquee says, "Changing Concept Soon" -- to decorate 24"-by-24" black wood panels. The kids' artwork will be tiled together into a huge mural and put up behind ABC Party on Davis Street in Oak Cliff. The goal is to soften the environment, Roberts said -- to make the arts district more inviting. Rosemont Primary School art teacher Stacy Cianciulli said the goal was to "involve the children of the neighborhood, to give them ownership and abate graffiti." For the full court press, professional (non-kid) muralists are prepping another wall near 422 W. Davis The scene was simple fun: One student, dripping paint all over her canvas, said, "I wouldn't exist without art"; another was coating his wood panel with the haste of someone on a deadline; and still another was dipping her whole hand in green. "I like painting because you can express yourself," a younger student said. "It lets me get dirty." True: There is paint all over the streets in Oak Cliff tonight. Check out more photos from the Art Crawl in our slide show here.

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Watch: Shannen Doherty's Top Secret 'DWTS' Rehearsal

She's the bad girl from Beverly Hills -- now Shannen Doherty is showing just how good she is on the dance floor! "The Insider" sneaks into her top-secret "Dancing with the Stars" rehearsal where the "90210" star talks about her deep emotional connection to the show. Meanwhile, she says of her debut, "As long as I remember my steps and don't trip, I'll be ok." "We have a lot of fun in the studio, actually," her partner Mark Ballas says. "We laugh a lot, but we get work done at the same time." Watch the video to see some of the moves they just might bust out on Monday's debut! [Read full story on The Insider]

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Conroy's net filter - are we becoming like China?

The debate over internet censorship, led by Communications minister Steve Conroy, continues to rage. Conroy wants all service providers to ban “Refused Classification” material hosted on overseas servers which includes child sex abuse content, bestiality, sexual violence and instructions for crime and drug use .What’s really interesting is the way it seems to have generated so much ferocity online. Do we actually need to be protected? Never mind the fact that like many people, in all my years of using the internet, I’ve never actually come across this sort of content and I am constantly on the net. And you have to say that the people who actually find this stuff would be seeking it out. Are we that incapable of looking after ourselves? And are becoming like China? Do we need the Great Firewall of Australia? This issue is not unique to Australia. Internet censorship is one of the big sleepers in society today and it’s happening right around the world. One of the most heavy handed is the so-called Great Firewall of China where anyone wanting to set up a web site has to meet with regulators and provide them with identification and photographs before they get permission. What are the chances of anyone launching a site critical of the regime? There has also been controversy about Google’s fight with the Chinese government about the censorship of its website. But it’s happening in other places, and some are more subtle than others. You can read about the enemies of the internet here. The Government’s plan involves asking internet service providers to block content that the National Classification Board decides should be "Refused Classification". Frankly, there would be many who would agree with such a ban. Conroy himself has attacked those who have accused him of heavy-handedness, saying all he is doing is blocking stuff not currently available in a newsagent, in a bookstore, on a DVD, at the movies or on television. Still, the feelings about this issue are so strong that Conroy’s enemies have set up a satirical web site in his name . Last month, we had Operation Titstorm where people protesting against internet censorship shut down the Federal Parliament website for the three days and sent parliamentary staff abusive and pornographic spam emails. Now there are plans for mass protests. This is extraordinary stuff, quite historic. There are some important questions that need to be answered here. The idea of filtering out pornography and material deemed to be inappropriate might have some support and is based on some solid arguments. But what concerns me is the detail. None of us are entirely sure how it would work. It’s a point raised by lawyers like Karen Haynes, a partner at Addisons. “Critics point to the as yet unanswered questions as to its implementation rather than its intended purpose. Namely, what will be blocked? Who decides? And are there better ways to achieve the purported aim of the scheme?” Good questions. Because you can bet mistakes will be made. As academic Nina Funnell notes, the Refused Classification category also includes socially and politically controversial material such as educational content on safer drug use and euthanasia. “While fetish and politically subversive content may be considered upsetting, fringe or distasteful to some, censoring on the grounds of taste is a wildly subjective game. It presupposes the offensive content is easily and universally recognisable. The reality is far more complex and, put simply, the Government should not have the right to block information that can inform debate of controversial issues. This isn't China, and it's not Iran.” In a speech delivered in January, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton denounced countries that censored the internet. “Countries that restrict free access to information or violate the basic rights of internet users risk walling themselves off from the progress of the next century,’’ Clinton said. Her comments were noted by Colin Jacobs, vice chairman of Electronic Frontiers Australia who says the government should heed Clinton’s words and scrap the plan. And it’s attracted attention around the world. This study from the Brooklyn Law School, quoted heresays: “Filtering looks easy and cheap, and calls to block access to material that is almost universally condemned - such as child pornography, extreme violence, or incitements to terrorism - are hard to resist. But this focus confuses means with ends.” Still, there are many who would say there is too much nasty stuff out there on the net and that lawmakers have a duty to protect the public. What do you think of Conroy’s plan? Is it necessary? Should we have controls on the internet to protect people? Or is it draconian? Comment on this Entry | More Management Line | More WAtoday.com.au Blogs

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Gospel Exec: God Told Me Not To Honor Contract

April Washington-Essex, who runs Habakkuk Music, didn’t option a second album by performer Isaiah D. Thomas because, she says, God has not told her to move on it yet. “I have been seeking God about the timing of your next recording. To date, God has not confirmed His approval for Habakkuk Music to participate,” she wrote to Thomas, according to a lawsuit he filed last week in Manhattan federal court. Thomas’ attorney, Chris Brown, said he had never seen a “God clause” invoked to end a contract. Essex says she wasn’t ending Thomas’s contract,…

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The Week's Best Late-Night Jokes

"Former Democratic congressman Eric Massa resigned on Monday amid allegations that he groped male staff workers. Massa claims he was tickling them and then claimed he was being forced out over his healthcare vote. If you're wondering why we don't have healthcare, it's because there's too much tickling in Congress." -Jimmy Kimmel "Rush Limbaugh says if the health care bill passes, he will leave the country. The Democrats are upset, because if they knew that, they would have passed the bill years ago." -Craig Ferguson "According to the New York Post, Tiger Woods has hired former President Bush's press secretary Ari Fleischer to help with his public relations campaign. Is George Bush's guy really the one you want in charge of your approval rating? If it was up to me, I'd hire Clinton's guy." -Jimmy Kimmel "Actually, you can see why he hired him. Tiger Woods and Bush have similar problems. Neither one knew when to pull out." -Jay Leno "Record ratings for the Oscars. Kathryn Bigelow won best director for her film about the Iraq war. But in her speech, she forgot to thank the two people without whom this film could never have been made -- Bush and Cheney." -Jay Leno Read more... The Week's Best Late-Night Jokes originally appeared on About.com Political Humor on Friday, March 12th, 2010 at 23:59:50. Permalink | Comment | Email this

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Rediscovering the city: A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Toronto

By Ben Kaplan, National Post Unexplored crevices and odd points of view burst from the pages of A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Toronto, a collection so inspired it surprised the series’ creators in Montreal. “They were shocked, like, ‘God, Toronto looks really good,’ ” says Margaret “Maggie” Goodfellow, 32, a project manager on the city’s waterfront, who wrote the book with Phil Goodfellow, her 32-year-old architect husband. “I don’t think Torontonians even know the extent of all the stuff going on here — let alone our editors in Montreal.” Leading a tour of the city’s nooks and crannies, the Goodfellows stop frequently to ooh and aah at the unusual design quirks that juxtapose new and old. On Philosopher’s Walk, a stretch of parkland between Harbord and Bloor, there’s an angle where the ROM’s crystals appear to sprout from Trinity College’s ancient stone walls. “The thrill is discovering the spaces in between places — the side entrances and views from the back — which are almost as nice as the buildings,” says Phil, a Montreal boy who met Maggie when she was at Carleton University in Ottawa and he was studying architecture at the University of Toronto. “We want readers to rediscover their neighbourhoods and be amazed at what they see.” The book, pocket-sized and jammed with photographs, was a three-year labour of love, and it features buildings and parks from Etobicoke to Scarborough, the waterfront to the 401. Attention is paid to the usual suspects, Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts and the Bata Shoe Museum receive full pages, but equally enticing are little known areas like the Schulich School of Business at York University and the laneway homes on Croft Street in Little Italy. “The fun part in making this was getting to be a tourist in our own home,” Maggie says. “There’s little like the thrill of falling in love with a place you’ve never been.” After appreciative inspections of the rear of the Gardiner Museum and the foyer of the Canadian headquarters of McKinsey & Company, an office building between Queen’s Park and St. Thomas Street, we venture inside the Royal Conservatory of Music. “On a quiet afternoon, you can hear the musicians rehearse,” Phil says as we pass through the restored McMaster Hall and head toward the upstairs lobby of the Koerner Concert Hall, which Maggie says houses the city’s best bar. “By exploring all the different angles of Toronto, it can give you a real different perspective, an appreciation, for where we live,” she says, looking southward from the building’s second floor patio, taking in the city’s skyline jutting over the recent foliage of the trees. The Goodfellows describe contemporary architecture as anything built over the past two decades and say the recession of the early ’90s helped lead to the design renaissance of today. A wave of new projects erected at the start of the aughts — the OCAD building, the District lofts, Yonge-Dundas Square — helped pave the way for the Spadina WaveDeck, Terminal 1 at Pearson Airport and the Toronto Botanical Gardens. “When people began to experience architecture, they didn’t want to live in mediocrity anymore,” says Maggie, who cites the “Bilbao effect” (Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum revitalized the city of Bilbao, Spain) with showing the world that a great building can generate not just tourism dollars but also civic pride. “Toronto built itself out of the recession to become just as strong as New York,” Phil explains. “Our passageways offer one of a kind cracks in the urban world.” Touring the city with the Goodfellows seems almost an impossible mission, seeing as both husband and wife are due back at the office after taking an extended lunch. Nevertheless, what was supposed to be 10 minutes at the Royal Conservatory turns into a two-hour tour — the music hall’s refurbished, finally completed auditorium provided the image for the book’s cover, so their enthusiasm is entirely justified — and afterwards, we spend another hour checking out the secret promenades north of Bloor Street and the Village of Yorkville Park. “You’d think you were on a speed date discovering these little gems, but then you realize it’s more like a long kiss,” says Maggie, climbing the stone ridge on Cumberland Street, looking down at the shoppers on Bellair. “You can get some action on your speed date if you just step out from your usual path,” Phil responds. Loaded with factoids and maps, interviews with architects such as Bruce Kuwabara and big wigs such as William Thorsell, A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Toronto reads like a walking tour narrated by a giddy, knowledgeable friend. For tourists, it’s a warm introduction to the city; for Torontonians, it’s a new way of looking at home. “The book was created to get people out and exploring,” Maggie says. “We want to show Torontonians what’s sometimes not normally seen.” [Phil and Margaret Goodfellow walk the University of Toronto campus. Photo by Tim Fraser for National Post. Image of exterior of Gardiner Museum courtesy A Guidebook to Contemporary Architecture in Toronto. © 2010, by Margaret Goodfellow and Phil Goodfellow. Published by Douglas and McIntyre an imprint of D&M Publishers Inc.. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.]

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Eco-Friendly Clothing Line Created by Kyle Smitley '07 Featured on TV

March 10, 2010, Greencastle, Ind. — "People were misleading consumers," says Kyle Smitley, founder and owner of barley & birch, a line of organic children's clothing. "They would say, 'We're organic', but what they didn't say was their pieces were made in a sweat shop, shirts were dyed with things using metals, and so I saw a huge problem with that." Smitley is a 2007 graduate of DePauw University. She and her eco-friendly company are the subject of a feature story which aired on Toledo, Ohio CBS television affiliate WTOL. The station notes that the name barley & birch "comes from barley fields where Smitley went to college and the birch tree from outside her home in Wauseon." Access video of the report at the TV station's Web site. Kyle Smitley was among Inc.'s 2009 listing of "30 Under 30: America's Coolest Entrepreneurs." Learn more in this recent article. She was also the subject of a story in the Toledo Free Press.

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2010 Commencement DVD Available for Pre-Order

Online DVD Order Form March 13, 2010, Greencastle, Ind. — Members of DePauw University's Class of 2010 and their family and friends can obtain a permanent keepsake of a special day: their graduation from college. For a ninth consecutive year, DePauw will produce a DVD of its commencement ceremonies, which will include footage of each graduate receiving their DePauw diploma as well as a range of bonus materials. Orders are now being accepted at $19.95 for the first disc; additional DVDs sent to the same address will be $8 each (7% sales tax will be added to Indiana orders). An online order form is available here. "We have again been able to secure a contract for lower replication costs, and we're pleased to pass the savings along to graduates and their families," says Ken Owen '82, executive director of media relations at DePauw, who oversees production of the DVD. "The commencement DVD has become something that our graduates and parents have come to count on, and typically contains more than three hours of content. In addition to the ceremony, there are clips that cover some of the events of the past four years, so it is, in some ways, a video yearbook, too." (at right: front cover of the 2009 commencement DVD) The ceremony is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday, May 23, in the Holton Memorial Quadrangle (weather permitting). The multi-camera production will capture the sights and sounds of the 171st commencement ceremony, including the procession of graduating seniors, speeches and -- as noted --video of each graduate receiving his or her diploma. As in past years, the DVD's menu will allow you to quickly access the spot in the program you want to see. If you're looking for a graduate whose last name is Jones, for instance, you click on the letter 'J' in the menu, you're immediately taken to the first person whose last name begins with the letter 'J' receiving his or her diploma. Users can also jump to specific speeches, or watch the program from beginning to end. The DVDs are professionally replicated, not duplicated, and are housed in a decorative jacket. The 2010 commencement disc's array of bonus features will include campus highlights of the past four years (ranging from clips of the opening convocation at which the Class of 2009 was welcomed to DePauw, the 2006-07 women's basketball team's national championship and Ubben Lecturers such as Tony Blair, Karl Rove and Howard Dean); "Monon Memories" of the last four football battles with Wabash College for the prized Monon Bell; a photo gallery of commencement day activities; and vintage film from the DePauw Archives. This will mark the 23rd DVD that DePauw has produced. Past projects include 11 Monon Bell Classics (1977, 1994 and 2001-09), some of which remain available here (supplies are very limited of the 2002 and 2007 DVDs). Also available are DVDs of the 2002-09 commencement ceremonies via this link. "In 2002, DePauw became one of the first colleges in the nation to offer a commencement DVD," recalls Owen. "The disc allows our seniors and their families a high quality and permanent way to revisit one of the most important events of their lives, whenever they like." For more information on DePauw's 171st Annual Commencement, click here.

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