Mad-Sumo-Make-Baby-Cry-Competition

Tokyo, April 29th 2006 - Sumo wrestler students try to make babies cry during the 'Crying Sumo' competition at Sensoji Temple. The children in this competition are usually less that one year old and its the first baby to cry that wins. The ceremony has been taking place in Japan to wish for the good health of the child with the idea that it is healthy for babies to cry.

"Anselm Kiefer: Heaven and Earth" at Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.

Anselm Kiefer's show is on between June 22nd and September 10th 2006 in Washington. If you have the opportunity to see this show, you must do so without hesitation. He is one of those artists from the eighties that I despised in art school. Why? Because he represented to me at the time male painters that love doing things big and getting paid for it big - I couldn't see past that. Now, I simply love the depth, feel and almost smell of his work. I don't care about anything else but how this work makes me feel. You just want to run home and stick your fingers in some paint and do something, anything.

NY: The Cinema Society Premiere Of First Look Studios' "The Proposition"

The Proposition was written by Nick Cave (pictured second from right) and directed by John Hillcoat (pictured second from left) in 2005. Its had mixed responses. It was practically over looked at the AFI awards to my astonishment as I thought it worthy of best Australian film for 2005. A second viewing does bring up its misgivings though. For one, the journey of Charlie Burns played by Guy Pearce to kill his brother Arthur Burns (Danny Huston pictured far right) is the most interesting part of the film. Guy Pearce (pictured left) is a dead pan loner of many faces which he plays with perfection. Yet when we ultimately meet this notorious brother of his, its a let down - a flaccid nutter that inspires no fear. Best performances are from Ray Winstone as Captain Stanley and Emily Watson as his repressed wife Martha.

Obsessive Compulsive Celebrities - Billy Bob Thorton

I understand this is a terrible affliction and many people are prisoner to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, its just that I'm both fascinated and afraid of it. Perhaps its the things that excite your attention the most that are really a mirror of who you are - I don't know. I do know that I have become quite obsessive about the blogging world in a very short span of time and am quite happy to surrender into the nutty cyberspace world that it is.

Back to Billy, we have all heard about the nutty things that went on with him and Angelina Jolie (exchanging blood amulets, mutilation, self-mutilation, tattooing each others names and then removing them again), but he also suffered from anorexia nervosa and has been plagued by OCD ever since he can remember; 'I have a little bit of OCD,' he says. 'The simple ones I can explain to you. The more complex ones, I don't even know how to tell anybody.' Thorton became very close to late rocker Warren Zevon after discovering they both suffered from OCD. 'Warren was one of my good friends dating back to the 1980s,' says the star. They met while performing an obsessive compulsive disorder ritual when they were neighbours in West Hollywood. 'He saw me at the mailbox taking my mail out and putting it back three times, and he said, 'You have that too, huh?' I adored him from then on.'

Relax

Australian Fashion Week Celeb Dregs

Akira used model Jethro Lazenby (Nick Cave's son) pictured centre Michelle Leslie with her dealer
Anita Keating with daugters Alexandra and Katherine
Annaliese Braakensiek, Kate Fisher with a pukey cleavage and Catriona Rowntree

Harry M. Miller and his wife Simmone Logue

Akira - An Australian Fashion Week Opener

Vanity Fair Party For The 5th Tribeca Film Festival

John McEnroe with wife Patty Smyth (lucky girl?)
Ed Burns with wife Christy Turlington (lucky boy)
Harvey Weinstien with girlfriend Georgina Chapman (poor thing)
Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld (He looks a bit mental here so poor her)
Willem Dafoe and Edie Falco (lucky them?)

London: 'Look At Me' A Retrospective - Lorenzo Agius

Helena Bonham-Carter and her partner Tim Burton attended this photo exhibition looking as mad as hatters. She has certainly moved on from her ol' Merchant Ivory days. I've never been fond of Helen's bland-I'm-too-English-boring-cods-wallop but I do love ol' Tim Burton.

David Copperfield's Magical Mayhem

Even though David Copperfield is geeky, creepy and downright sneaky you have to give him credit for his latest escape.

After his show at a West Palm Beach Florida, Copperfield was walking with two female assistants back to their tour bus when four armed teenagers pulled up in a black car and demanded the group's belongings, according to police. An assistant handed over $US400 from her pockets while the other gave up her purse with $euro200, $US100, her passport, plane tickets and a mobile phone.

But not dear Copperfield. All he handed over was a couple of empty pockets; 'Call it reverse pick-pocketing', he quipped thinking that everyone would all crack up laughing. Copperfield managed to fool the robbers despite having cash, a mobile phone and a passport on his person.

David Copperfield once was engaged to Claudia Schiffer back in the nineties. I always thought that liaison was pukey but according to German tabloid Blid, it was a staged relationship and she would receive appearance fees. Her own father publicly stated that she never had sexual relations with Copperfield (much to his relief). Copperfield responded that since Mr. Schiffer was never in their bedroom, how could he know?

Jennifer Steinkamp - Works Of Light

When I look at Jennifer Steinkamp's work I think of futuristic projections of life as it could be - whether that's exciting or scary I can't decide (I have a love-hate-fear-rapturous relationship with a lot of things). She works with computer animation, digital media, experimental film and architecture. This is all brought together to create a mesmerizing experience of light and color. Her retrospective exhibition which covers her work from 1993 up until now, will be at the San Hose museum USA from July 1 2006 until October 1 2006.

Kevin Costner In Confused-Sex-Massage-Golf-Gate

Kevin Costner is in trouble. The celebrity/actor/director/buffoon was golfing away in St.Andrews when he confused a massage with 'a sex act', a former employee at The Old Course Hotel claimed. Costner did the dirty and when the girl complained to her employers, she was sacked.

A legal ban stopping the naming of the alleged golfer that performed this 'sex act' was just lifted. Now we know it was Costner who attended the Dunhill Links Pro-Celebrity Golf Event in October 2004 and was the mystery golfer-confused-sex-massage-maniac.

The only good thing Costner has ever done in his career was play the corpse in THE BIG CHILL dir. Lawrence Kadsan, 1983. Pictured is a scene that was left on the editors floor.

Lennon Speaks From The Grave

The U.S. pay television seance has come and gone. John Lennon was contacted from the other side and said; 'Peace....the message is peace'.

People who paid $9.95 to watch the pay-per-view Lennon seance saw audio crew members, a psychic and an expert in paranormal activity claim that the late Beatle's spirit made contact with them through what is described as an Electronic Voice Phenomenon -EVP.

The taping of the show was done at a restaurant that Lennon frequented called 'La Fortuna'. Everyone hoped that since Lennon used to be a real chatterbox at the eatery, he would chatter away at the seance. It seems as if all he had to say is what we all thought he would say if we could imagine something he would say from the other side.

EVP is based on a belief that spirit voices communicate through radio and TV broadcast signals.

Kraftwerk - Computer Crazy Performance Artists

KRAFTWERK was founded by Florian Schneider-Esleben and Ralf Hutter in 1970 and then became a quartet with Wolfgang Flur and Karl Bartos. These reclusive computer geeks were trail blazers with electronic music which they incorporated with deadpan performance art/performances. You can listen to KRAFTWERK's The Model in MY ARMS FOLD BACK's Greatest Hits section.

Planetarium Extravaganza

Baton Rouge, LA - The Irene W. Pennington Planetarium announced that beginning on April 29 it will show a new, digitally animated alternative rock music show. When I first saw this image I thought of the seventies movie, LOGAN'S RUN (dir. Michael Anderson 1976). People would drift up into a dome to be terminated when their time was up at the tender age of 30.

Rene Magritte - A Surreal Delight

Rene Magritte was part of the Surrealist circle that was founded by Andre Breton in 1924. Logic and comprehension are played with in order for the viewer to tap into their own unconscious mind and see what is lurking there. They were all in love with what was going on with Jung and Freud at the time so its no wonder that this movement wanted to stretch our collective imaginations and to push us in to questioning what is real. We have seen so many of these pictures in popular culture; reproduced and played with in advertising, I just wanted to pay homage to one of the dearest Surrealists: Rene Magritte.