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One of the great mysteries of the art world is how Doug Chrismas keeps on doing what he does. As director of Ace Institute of Contemporary Art, hes provided a home for some of the worlds most demanding art since 1966. That makes Ace the longest-running gallery in town. Chrismas has the biggest gallery, too. Since 1986, Ace has occupied the entire second floor of the Desmonds Department Store building, a grand old Art Deco structure that fills an entire block of Wilshire Boulevards Miracle Mile. Inside, Ace has 30,000 feet of vast, cavernous gallery space worthy of Albert Speer.
In 1990, Chrismas opened Ace/New York, and that gallery is housed in the former Longshoremans hiring hall, a mammoth building measuring 20,000 square feet. Two years ago, Chrismas took out a 10-year lease on a former bank building in Beverly Hills, and in May he unveiled a second L.A./Ace there with a show of gigantic canvases by the late Sam Francis. This new gallery provides Ace with 17,000 additional feet, but its not big enough for Chrismas. Hes now working with Frank Gehry on a redesign that will expand the gallery and add a suite of condominiums on top of it. Theres an Ace curatorial office in Berlin, too, and in 1998 Chrismas launched Ace/Mexico City. (That space suspended its exhibitions program a year ago, but he plans to maintain an office there.) All told, Chrismas has 67,000 square feet of gallery space. A football field is 57,600 square feet.
Chrismas galleries arent just big, theyre beautiful. Everyone is always bowled over by Dougs great sense of theater and presentation, says artist and gallerist Cliff Benjamin. Its like entering the Vatican when you walk into one of his galleries you cant help but say wow.
Wow doesnt come cheap. The rent on the Desmonds building space alone is $39,811.50 per month, plus $42,000 per year for an additional space Chrismas rents on the 11th floor. Given the size and location of his other galleries, one assumes those rents must be comparable, which raises the obvious question: How on earth does he pay for it all?
A trip to L.A.s Hall of Records suggests that paying his bills has never been easy for Chrismas. Going through court archives dating back only to 1976 turns up documentation for more than 55 lawsuits brought against him. Hes been sued by artists, dealers, collectors, private investors, service industries, landlords and former friends. Hes been sued under three different spellings of his surname and nine different business names and this is just in L.A.
Richard Serras Delineator
at Ace/Venice, 1975
The subject of dozens of rumors alleging that he stiffs artists, has produced and sold unauthorized fabrications of sculptures, poaches artists from other dealers, and occasionally sells artworks that he fails to deliver to the buyer, Chrismas has become something of a local legend, partly because nobody really seems to know much about him. Hes a secretive man who flatly declares, I dont do interviews, when contacted about the possibility of a profile. When several weeks pass and Chrismas learns the article is proceeding without his participation, he instructs his artists not to cooperate. He then begins calling regularly with various strategies conceived to kill or at least stall the article. He first attempts to make the case that hes of no interest, then promises a scoop sometime in the future.
When neither approach bears fruit, he finally agrees to a breakfast meeting at a
mid-Wilshire café.
Like most good businessmen, Chrismas plays things close to the vest. Its difficult to get direct answers out of him, and he often responds to questions by scribbling incomprehensible diagrams and floor plans on scraps of paper. He seems nervous he barely touches the bowl of fruit he orders and admits as much. My staff is paranoid about this article, because we run on a very thin wire, says Chrismas, whos somehow managed to be a prominent art dealer for 40 years without ever having been the subject of a profile. The artists are upset, too, because they think it will cost them. It doesnt seem to occur to Chrismas to ask himself why a legitimate businessman should be horrified at the prospect of free publicity.
At 59, Chrismas is beginning to thicken at the waist, but hes still youthful for his age. He dimples sweetly when he smiles, and its easy to imagine what he mustve looked like as a child. Though his hairline receded ages ago, he keeps the gray hair he still has closely cropped and sleek, and his personal style is in keeping with the aesthetic of his galleries: He tends to wear simple clothes in dark colors. Hes not unaware of his reputation, and when I recount one rumor circulating about him that artist Richard Serra had to pull a gun on him to get him to pay a fabricator hed hired on a Serra project he says the story is untrue, but looks amused and rather pleased.
Douglas James Chrismas was born in 1944 to a middle-class Vancouver family with no ties to the art world. Asked about his parents, Chrismas struggles to hide his annoyance at having to answer a personal question. My father was an interesting man who designed airplanes, he explains, but I havent seen him for years and dont know if hes still alive. I have a brother who got a doctorate in geology, then became a photographer.
Of the beginnings of his art career, Chrismas says, It all began for me when I walked into an art gallery by accident and realized there was something special in the environment. Not long after that, I opened my first gallery during summer vacation. I was 17 at the time, and I found the work so compelling that I never went back to school.
Ian Davidson, a Canadian architect and art consultant whos had a hand in several L.A. collections, was active in Vancouvers art scene during the 60s. He remembers Chrismas as a brash, ambitious kid who was building furniture when we met. He doesnt come from a wealthy family. His father was a car dealer in Alberta, but Doug had very little to do with him because his parents divorced when he was young. His mother sold real estate in Vancouver, and she did a lot to help him. Shes in a nursing home in Vancouver now, and I think he visits her once in a while.
Doug was running a framing shop in downtown Vancouver in the early 60s, Davidson continues, and at the time I was a partner in the first contemporary gallery in Vancouver. In 1961 we sold it to Doug, who renamed it Ace Gallery. Shortly after that he befriended Teresa Bjornson, whod been a dancer with Merce Cunningham. Through Merce, Teresa met Bob Rauschenberg and many artists of that generation, and Teresa introduced them to Doug. Teresa opened the door for Doug, but she no longer speaks to him. (Now living in the Palisades with her husband and three children, Bjornson declines to comment.)
Several art-world insiders mention Bjornson as a key figure in Chrismas early career, but Chrismas dismisses Davidsons recollection as not true. Teresa had a paper route when I hired her, and I made contact with New York myself. I heard Rauschenberg was going to be in Seattle and kept calling him until he agreed to meet me while he was there. He finally agreed to see me, we had a great meeting, and I started showing him.
Bjornson had a friend named Jane Erickson with whom Chrismas became romantically involved, and in 1966 the two of them moved to Los Angeles. Warhol told me L.A. was the future, so I decided to come to L.A. on Andys advice, recalls Chrismas, who eventually closed his Vancouver gallery. On arriving in L.A., Chrismas opened the first local incarnation of Ace in a raw warehouse space below the Factory, a nightclub owned by Sammy Davis Jr. on La Peer Drive in West Hollywood.
The first avant-garde show I ever did was in that space it was a Sol Lewitt drawing show, says Chrismas, who also exhibited plastic sculpture by DeWain Valentine, Peter Alexander and John McCracken at the La Peer location. In 1969, Chrismas marked the closing of the space with a performance by artist Raphael Montanez Ortiz. However, this would be one of the last times he showed much interest in performance art. At that point his gaze was fixed on another horizon entirely.
Minimalism, earthworks, and light-and-space installations were the waves that were cresting in the late 60s, and these modes of working dovetailed neatly with Chrismas interest in architecture, which plays a crucial role in the successful presentation of such work. This is extraordinarily challenging art big, expensive to make, hard to sell and you can count on one hand the people whove gone out on a limb to support it. There are Heiner and Fariha Friedrich, founders of the Dia Foundation, whose recently opened Dia:Beacon, a sprawling art park in upstate New York, will henceforth serve as the official mecca of High Minimal; theres legendary dealer and heiress to the 3M fortune Virginia Dwan, who financed several major earthworks including Michael Heizers Double Negative, a 1,500-foot-long, 50-foot-deep, 30-foot-wide gash cut into facing slopes of a Nevada mesa; theres Italian collector Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo. And theres Doug Chrismas. This was the work that thrilled him, and he began creating galleries able to accommodate it. His first move in that direction was to take over a space on Lindbrook Avenue in Westwood that was occupied until 1969 by Virginia Dwan.
Doug Wheeler, an Arizona-born artist who played a major role in the development of light-and-space art, was one of the first people Chrismas called when he moved to Westwood. [Chrismas] was a young, flamboyant guy who wore fringed jackets when we met, recalls Wheeler, whos split his time between L.A. and New Mexico since 1980. At the time I had the impression he was a frustrated artist himself, and when he first approached me he had a space in West Hollywood where I wasnt interested in showing. Doug is persistent, though, and he pursued me, and when he rented the Dwan space he asked me if Id like to show there, and asked me to redesign the gallery to fit my work. Not long after, he started representing me and giving me a monthly stipend.
In the 70s, L.A.s heavy art action was taking place in Venice, so thats where Chrismas had to be. The openings he hosted at the two galleries he operated there between 1970 and 1985 were extraordinary, too. They were mobbed with a glamorous mix of artists, New Yorkers, Europeans, art students, models, writers, film people and wealthy collectors, and the crowds would spill into the streets and fill the surrounding sidewalks. Chrismas was doing important shows then; in 1972 he mounted Robert Irwins critically acclaimed installation Room Angle Light Volume at the first Ace/Venice, which opened at 72 Market Street in 1971. That year Chrismas also invested $9,000 in Robert Smithsons crucial earthwork Spiral Jetty, a 1,500-foot-long, 15-foot-wide spiral form fashioned out of rocks positioned in Great Salt Lake, Utah. Artist Peter Plagens, former art critic for Newsweek and a contributing editor for Artforum, recalls feeling indebted to Ace Gallery when I lived in L.A. in the 60s and 70s, because it provided museum-quality shows of artists like Warhol, Rauschenberg and Heizer when you couldnt see that stuff anyplace else in town.
Dougs a strange bird, though, and while I dont know what the problem is, it seems theres probably something repressed there, adds Plagens, whose 1974 book Sunshine Muse was one of the first attempts at a comprehensive history of West Coast contemporary art. In the early 70s, Doug arranged for a bunch of L.A. artists that included Peter Alexander, Larry Bell and Ron Cooper to speak at a museum in Vancouver, and he flew us all up and picked us up at the airport. When we got to the car, Doug said, You cant put your bags in the trunk theyll have to go up front, because theres something in the trunk. All those guys are wise-asses, so they started getting on Doug about what was in the trunk, and he got visibly upset. After wed ridden for a while in this packed car, we started complaining loudly Come on, Doug, why cant we put our bags in the trunk? Whats in there? Dope? A body? He got vividly angry, like veins bulging at the temple, pulled over on the freeway, and yelled that if we didnt stop asking what was in the trunk we could get out and walk. To this day I dont know what was in the trunk. It was odd.
From the moment Chrismas set up shop, he was known to be a maverick businessman who wouldnt flinch when the stakes got high; he has a taste for brinkmanship thats unusual for someone in his line of work, and seems to enjoy devising new approaches to the traditionally staid business of dealing art. Sometimes his resourcefulness has paid off, but often it has not, and the grumbling about his unorthodox business practices became increasingly audible during his Venice years.
Dougs had a very checkered career, and hes done some awful things in terms of his business ethics, says Davidson. Ive often wondered how hes managed to stay out of jail, and Im very strict with him when we do business. Whenever I see him I say, Its such fun to be having dinner with my favorite art criminal, and he gives me a watery grin, because he knows its true.
While Davidson regards Chrismas with measured warmth, many artists hes represented have stronger feelings about him. Everyone whos shown with Doug has a love/hate relationship with him, says Doug Wheeler. He has a great eye, hell do anything to make a work come off in the best way possible, and he provides conditions for artists most galleries wouldnt even consider. Hes not the most honest guy in the world, though, and by 1971 my relationship with him had become intolerable and I formally left the gallery.
Wheeler wasnt the only Ace artist to defect during the 70s; among those who left was Bruce Nauman, who had eight shows at Ace/Vancouver and Ace/Venice between 1971 and 1978. Nauman declines to comment on Chrismas, but their dispute is rumored to have been resolved just short of a lawsuit. Such setbacks have never fazed Chrismas, and in 1975 he opened a second Ace/Venice, at Windward and Main, where he continued to score exhibition coups. Among them was Richard Serras Delineator, a 1975 sculpture people still rave about. Composed of a massive steel plate suspended from the ceiling facing an identical steel plate on the floor, the piece required that Chrismas spend months and a great deal of money reinforcing the gallery. Serra, who showed with Chrismas through 1978 but has been with Gagosian Gallery since 1983, declines to comment on Chrismas. His assistant, however, volunteers that Richard doesnt comment if he cant say anything nice.
Chrismas appetite for space was voracious, and in 1976 he opened a third L.A. venue at 736 N. La Cienega Blvd., the former location of the legendary Ferus Gallery. But he continued to have problems keeping his artists. Irit Krygier directed Ace/La Cienega from 1976 to 1979. There was a period when Doug represented all the major artists, and he couldve been king of the world if hed only paid them and taken care of them, recalls Krygier, whos now an art writer and adviser to private clients. But Doug has a self-destructive streak, and he blew it. The artists used to call me screaming when he owed them money, and one by one they all left him.
Still, he continued to present great shows. In 1977, Ace mounted acclaimed exhibitions of work by Frank Stella and Robert Motherwell, along with another show people still talk about, Michael Heizers Displaced/Replaced Mass. Installed at 72 Market, the piece required that huge chunks be gouged out of the gallery floor to create recessed areas able to accommodate imposing boulders; the work was a triumph for both artist
and dealer.
Chrismas legal problems were picking up steam, though, and he was sued that year by the California Law Center in a dispute concerning a Warhol drawing that was stolen from Ace/Venice in 1977. Ace agreed to pay lawyers Steven Small and Ronald Levin $1,000 for securing the return of the drawing. It was returned, but Ace refused to pay the agreed-upon fee, then accused Levin a notorious con man who was murdered by the Billionaire Boys Club in 1984 of stealing the drawing in the first place. Meanwhile, Warhol was having his own problems with Chrismas. In his posthumously published book of 1989, The Andy Warhol Diaries, the first of several Doug Chrismas didnt send the check yet entries appears in 1977.
Two of the three lawsuits filed against Chrismas in 1978 were brought by artists: Robert Motherwell took him to court following the disappearance of nine works with a combined value of $493,000 that had been consigned to Chrismas for sale; Robert Graham took him to court for violating an oral agreement. It seems both Graham and Chrismas were interested in purchasing the same piece of property in Venice. Rather than bid against each other, they agreed to buy the property together, with Chrismas placing the bid. Chrismas did place the bid, and when it was accepted he had the title of the property conveyed to his name only.
Today, Graham says he barely remembers the incident and has nothing but praise for Chrismas: Dougs one of the most courageous dealers around lots of people dont like him, but who wouldve shown artists like Heizer and Serra in L.A. if Doug hadnt done it? I have great respect for him as a maverick who never takes any safe avenues.
Chrismas was the subject of three lawsuits in 1979, and the following year collector Frederick Weisman took him to court when he failed to comply with the terms of a $125,000 loan. At the time, few people had any idea of the legal tangles Chrismas was ensnared in; they would find out a few years later, however, when he was the defendant in a highly public lawsuit.
During the 80s, Chrismas luck began to turn. The art market was experiencing the biggest boom it had ever known, but Chrismas was no longer the only game in town. MOCA opened here in 1984, but more important, a young dealer named Larry Gagosian was making serious inroads onto Chrismas turf. Gagosian launched his career inauspiciously in 1975 with a tacky multiples store in Westwood called Prints on Broxton, but by 1981 hed upgraded to the Gagosian Gallery, a sleek showroom in West Hollywood. The following year he opened a second L.A. space on Robertson Boulevard, where he showed hot young New York talents like Jean-Michel Basquiat and David Salle, along with a roster of blue-chip artists many of whom had once been with Chrismas that included Frank Stella and Richard Serra.
Chrismas inaugurated the new decade on a high note with a 1980 show of work by sculptor Mark di Suvero; that relationship ended abruptly, however, and di Suvero declines to explain why. In 1981, Chrismas opened Charmers Market, an upscale grocery store on Main Street in Venice that was plagued with problems from the start. During its first year, a 69-year-old pharmacist named Kate Walden sued Chrismas after she fell on the property and broke her hip. Her 18-month legal fight with Chrismas was in progress in 1982 when his company, Flow Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection. The following year Walden committed suicide surrounded by the clothes she wanted to be buried in, along with a set of interrogatories received in her suit against Flow Inc. In 1984, Chrismas filed a personal Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and in 1985 he sold Charmers Market to comedian Bill Cosby. Chrismas wont disclose what he was paid for the property, but says, That money neutralized everything.
In 1981, New York artist Leon Polk Smith demanded that Chrismas either pay him $39,000 for consigned works or return them. Chrismas turned the art over to a shipping company with instructions that it be returned to Smith, but the shipper seized it instead to cover Chrismas unpaid shipping bills. Smith won a $40,000 judgment in his suit against Flow Ace Gallery, but the judgment was thwarted by one of Chrismas bankruptcies, and Smith, who died in 1996, was given a lien on one of the dealers properties instead. Most everyone I spoke to in New York advised me most strongly to have nothing to do with Doug Chrismas, Smith recalled in a 1986 interview with the L.A. Times.
Chrismas was the subject of four lawsuits brought by individuals in 1982, and that same year he opened Art and Architecture of the Twentieth Century, a bookstore located next to the lithography studio Gemini G.E.L. on Melrose Avenue. He also ran a full-page ad in Artforum announcing the summer opening of yet another Ace Gallery this one in Paris which Chrismas says he maintained for a few years.
Ace/L.A.s 1982 exhibition schedule included shows of work by Sam Francis, Robert Therrien, and Ed Ruscha, who left Ace that year and went to the Gagosian Gallery. I showed with Doug for nine years, says Ruscha, and although he always put on a good show, I did have my problems with him. Checks would bounce, hed postpone paying money I was owed, and he had an endless supply of lame excuses along the lines of Its a Canadian bank holiday, so the checks been delayed. I got away relatively unscathed in that I never had to go to an attorney.
Joseph Lafferman, landlord for the Ace at Windward and Main, did go to an attorney when he sought to have Chrismas evicted after the gallerist fell behind in his monthly rent of $5,517.04. Lafferman sued him again in 1983 and 1984, at which point Chrismas moved his gallery in with his bookstore on Melrose.
Doug is an adventurous guy wholl sign any kind of lease leases dont bother him, says artist Ed Moses. If he cant pay, he just doesnt pay until he gets the money, then whoever has the most muscle has the best shot at getting paid. Doug operates like an artist in that he does daring things without having the money to back it up, and then he figures out how to pay for it.
Chrismas certainly doesnt seem to be intimidated by landlords. In the spring of 1983, Lalezar Kavian leased him a space in the 600 block of La Cienega Boulevard for $6,250 a month. A provision of the lease was that within 10 days of its signing some underground tanks located on the property be removed, and the surface of the area be compacted following the removal. Chrismas told Kavian that if he gave him $7,000, he would get the job done and oversee its completion. Kavian gave Chrismas the money, but the tanks were never removed. In July of that year, Kavian evicted Chrismas, who hadnt paid his rent since May.
Because of the multiple bankruptcies Chrismas filed in the early 80s, the seven people who sued him between 1982 and 1984 had difficulty settling their accounts with him. A Canadian real estate developer named Frederick Stimpson refused to take no for an answer, however; in February of 1986, Stimpson had Chrismas arrested on seven felony counts of grand theft. Led from his gallery in handcuffs and jailed for three days, Chrismas was accused of reselling $1.2 million worth of art hed sold to Stimpson, whod asked Chrismas to store the works at his gallery until space could be made for them in Stimpsons Vancouver home. Instead of storing the works, Chrismas sold five of them to other collectors.
One of the pieces Rauschenbergs Atlas Colonnade Jr. was sold to New York collectors Jane Ordway and Dexter Guerrieri. Chrismas asked that $90,000 of the money due him from the couple be paid directly to artist Frank Stella, whod long been owed money by Chrismas. They complied with his request, but Chrismas failed to deliver the art theyd purchased. Two years of litigation culminating in a federal trial in Los Angeles followed, and the couple was awarded a court order forcing Chrismas to hand over the art theyd paid him for.
Chrismas used another work owned by Stimpson Rauschenbergs Rodeo Palace, valued at $600,000 at the time as collateral on a $200,000 loan from First Beverly Bank in Century City. When Chrismas defaulted on the loan, the piece was seized by the bank, which sold it to Margo Leavin, a prominent L.A. dealer who declines to comment on Chrismas. Six months after his arrest, Chrismas pleaded no contest to the charges brought against him by Stimpson, who agreed to allow Chrismas five years to pay him $650,000 for the artworks in question. I was friends with Fred and his wife long before that problem arose, and the moment we resolved it we immediately regained our friendship, Chrismas says. Fred and his wife have unfortunately passed away, but Im working with their children, and I currently have Fred Stimpsons inventory in my gallery
for sale.
More painful to Chrismas than his financial setbacks of the 80s was the falling out he had with Robert Rauschenberg, whom he regarded as a mentor. Walter Hopps, founding director of the Menil Collection in Houston and a longtime friend of Rauschenberg, recalls, Doug was all over us when we were doing Bobs first retrospective for the Smithsonian in 1976, and he wanted us to borrow work from him, but hes not someone Ive ever wanted to deal with. I know Bob was unhappy with Doug because he got away with money that belonged to Bob. I think its terrible how hes treated artists, and anything he might be credited with achieving seems tainted to me somehow.
Rauschenberg sued Chrismas for $500,000 in a 1983 lawsuit the artists New York curator, David White, described as very acrimonious. In 1984, Rauschenberg obtained a judgment for $140,000 in his case against Chrismas, but the artist declines to comment on him today. It appears, however, that hes forgiven Chrismas for past transgressions; when the second Rauschenberg retrospective (also curated by Hopps) was presented at the Guggenheim in 1997, a part of it The Two-Furlong Piece, also known as The ? Mile Painting was hung at Ace/New York.
Its true Rauschenberg sued me, Chrismas concedes, but that lawsuit was like a lovers quarrel in fact, Bob came up to me at the opening of his retrospective and said, I apologize for suing you. Bob is one of the most important contributors to whatever I have today, and it was his idea to have Ace be part of his Guggenheim retrospective. I didnt ask for that.
By the mid-80s, Chrismas had become persona non grata in Venice, so he moved across town to the space he currently occupies. At that point he recruited a new stable of artists that included James Hayward, David Amico, Mary Corse, Roger Herman, Constance Mallinson and Charles Fine. Most of them describe their dealings with Ace as tempestuous.
Roger Herman finally left the gallery in 1998, because a good friend of mine was dying, and I just didnt have time for Dougs bullshit. You have to be really strong to deal with him, because hes a mind-fucker with weird accounting practices that drive you crazy, and I couldnt handle it anymore. It often happened that Id go to the gallery to collect money I was owed, and the minute I left Dougs office hed call the bank and put a stop payment on the check hed just given me.
Doug is a champion of austere minimalist installations, and he has a good eye for that kind of work, Herman continues. His understanding of art stopped at some point in the past, though, and he just doesnt get new forms. In a funny way he made all his artists do similar work he didnt make us, exactly, but he gives you these spaces and encourages you to make really grand work to fill them. There was a period when I was making huge paintings, and I remember saying, Gee, Doug, theyre really big, and he said, Make them even bigger! Well blow people away! Who cares if we sell them!
In that way, he really is an artists dealer, Herman adds. Doug isnt a shopkeeper, and I admire that about him. Lots of art dealers screw artists over, but they do it in a petty way, and Doug isnt petty. He has more guts than most people, and hes a good architect in fact, he designed a museum in Thailand [the Museum of Bangkok].
No less an authority than Frank Gehry agrees. Dougs got a great eye, says Gehry, and hes been a valuable critic on some museums projects Ive worked on, including the galleries in Bilbao.
The late 80s found Chrismas with a new gallery and a new roster of artists, but he still had some of his same old problems, and landlords were at the top of that list. In 1988, Wilshire Dunsmuir Co., owners of the Desmonds building, took legal action against him for being delinquent on his rent. Since then, Wilshire Dunsmuir has taken Chrismas to court on 10 more occasions, the most recent being this June, when he was late on his rent to the tune of $96,250.95. Nonetheless, Joseph Shabani, in-house counsel for Wilshire Dunsmuir Co., describes Chrismas as a valued tenant whos been with us for 18 years. Its true weve taken legal action against Doug several times, but his rent is phenomenally high, so once in a while he falls behind on it. We recently had an issue with him concerning the roof of the building, but for the record weve resolved our differences.
Thats something several artists who signed on with Chrismas after his move to Wilshire were unable to do. Constance Mallinson, who exhibited at Ace from 1987 to 1991, says, This is a story I regret having to tell, but I was showing with Rosamund Felsen in the mid-80s when Doug, in typical Doug fashion, started coming around saying, You dont want to show with her, I can do better for you. At that point I was in my starving-artist period, and when he offered me a monthly stipend, I thought Id died and gone to heaven. Doug did start selling my work, and he wasnt too bad about paying for a while, but then I began having difficulty getting paid and he stopped taking my calls. Our relationship continued to deteriorate over a period of months, and then we had one last heated conversation.
Doug had an old-fashioned way of presenting art he was locked into hes really into that white-wall, big-work, hit-em-between-the-eyes type of presentation, continues Mallinson, whos one of just five women Chrismas has represented in L.A. over the last 37 years. As far as Dougs concerned, bigger is always better. Look at the new Ace he just opened in Beverly Hills! Like he doesnt have enough fucking room there on Wilshire Boulevard?! Anyhow, shortly after I had my first child he brought a client over to look at a piece at my house, and he went apeshit because there were some baby toys in the room. He later claimed he was unable to sell the piece because the presentation was tainted by this baby toy. I said, You are a fucking asshole and I never want to see you again. As soon as I had a baby he told me having a child made me lose my focus, and he started trashing me right and left.
Like Mallinson, James Hayward was showing with Rosamund Felsen in the 80s when Chrismas offered him a stipend. Hayward has had his problems with Chrismas, too, and his show there this spring was his first at Ace in five years.
Dougs used to having his own way, says Hayward, and he seems to need to better people deep in his heart he needs to feel he got you. Hes like a naughty little kid who likes to get away with stuff. He takes advantage left and right, hes an amazing salesman, and hes really sharp at playing angles. I once told Doug I was going to have business cards printed for him that said, Ace Gallery/Walls, Balls & Bullshit Bookkeeping. Hes been sued so many times its as if hes insulated himself from the law, because if you sue him you just throw your spear into somebody elses lawsuit. Signing a contract with him is a waste of time, because the books there are impossible. I got so frustrated with him once that I threw a sledgehammer through one of the gallery walls.
For every artist who stomps off in a fury, theres another waiting to take his place, and in 1990 it was Ross Rudels turn. As is the case with everyone, my experience with Doug was a mixture of incredible highs and incredible lows, recalls Rudel, who showed with Chrismas from 1990 through 1994, and is now with Angles Gallery. After I finished school I got a job in the MOCA bookstore, and one day I got a Post-It from my boss that said, Call Doug Xmas. I had no idea who Doug was, but within a month of receiving that call he had me quit my job, got me a better studio, put me on a stipend, and got me working full time. Doug really knew how to fluff my aura, and he kept me going with a carrot constantly. I was young and vulnerable, and was at a point when thats really what I needed, and he gave it to me fully. Its irrelevant whether it was sincere, because it worked and when it stopped working I left.
The incredible lows were the business end of things, Rudel continues. Dougs program is sort of wrenching, and in order to withstand it you have to be able to take in stride the intense emotional swings that are part of it, and I just wasnt up for it anymore. Still, it was amazing to watch him operate Ive seen Doug be three different people in five minutes. Hes abusive to the people who work for him, and hed be furious with someone, then hed turn around and flip a switch and be ingratiating, then turn to someone else and talk straight business. The guy can really spin a tale, and hes an amazing facilitator in that sense. He could be whoever he needed to be at any given moment.
While Rudel found Chrismas cunning and capable, New York sculptor Richard Nonas summarizes him as a man with missing parts. Doug is the only person Ive ever met who truly is morally dyslexic, says Nonas, who showed at Ace in 1991 and 1993. From the start I understood who he was, though, and I enjoyed dealing with him. Doug has a dream about how art should be presented, and hes devised ways of achieving that dream that avoid lots of the bullshit, but his methods create whole new layers of complexity. Hes kind of a mad monk, like Rasputin and the way he operates gives him pleasure, theres no doubt about it. Hes completely amoral, but his enthusiasm is fantastic, and it was worth it to me to be around his enthusiasm as long as he didnt go too far. I always felt he understood there was a line he couldnt cross with me, too. There was never a great deal of money at stake with my work, but as soon as there was a large sum of money involved, he crossed that line and I walked out.
Doug basically has no friends, and hes a subject many people dont get over, Nonas adds. It isnt the financial impropriety thats so hard for Dougs artists to take the real trauma has to do with a loss of innocence artists who work with him experience. Nobody ever really trusts Doug, but they trust that he understands their work. Finally, heres a dealer who understands why you want to do that thing thats not so easy to do, and to be betrayed by the person with that understanding is a bitter pill. Still, he makes the best gallery spaces I know of, and to have access to those spaces and that enthusiasm was worth the [trouble] in the long run.
Theres genuine affection in Nonas voice when he talks about Chrismas, and hes not the only artist who feels that way. A funny thing about artists with Doug Chrismas war stories is that they often tell them in the wistful tone usually reserved for recollections of traumatic love affairs.
Take the other shit away, the mind-fucking and all that, and hes fascinating, says Roger Herman. Of course hes crazy, but he has an interesting criminal mind, and I used to see a lot of him. We both like Hong Kong action films, so he used to take me to movies or Thai boxing matches, or wed have lunch at some Vietnamese dive. He knows a lot about food and is obsessed with the health properties of food. He thinks its bad to eat garlic and onion together, for instance, because that combination is too earth-oriented and inhibits your ability to generate alpha waves, which govern creativity. Hes compulsive about germs and thinks its bad to read newspapers because its too much information, and it bothers his eyes to read from left to right he thinks we should read from top to bottom. Sometimes Id be listening to him talk and Id think, my god, hes out of his mind!
Mallinson never found Chrismas endearingly eccentric, but concedes, Hes chosen some very good art along the way and had some wonderful shows, so I guess you could say hes been a positive force in the city.
Doug Wheeler also regards his experience with Chrismas as too complex to summarize as good or bad. Despite everything, I kind of like the guy, Wheeler says with a laugh. He really loves art, and there arent many dealers I say that about. Doug was genuinely turned on by the work I was making, and I think hes oblivious to the fact that he made decisions that hurt my career. It amazes me hes still in the game, though, because so many artists have been screwed by him. When I was working with him, I had no idea how he financed his operation, and to this day I dont know how he does it.
Why Chrismas does what he does is as mysterious as how he does it. Whats motivating him? Nobody knows for sure, but everyone agrees its not money.
Doug doesnt live lavishly, says James Hayward. Ive never been to his house nobody I know has and I have no idea where he lives. Years ago I drove him to a weird little rundown apartment in Hollywood so he could walk his dog. I dont know if it was a place he used as a kennel for his dog or it was where he lived, but it wasnt much.
Roger Herman concurs. Doug derives his pleasure from power not money, and aspires to be someone like Tom Krens, who runs the Guggenheim. Doug does museum-scale shows, but he could never work at a museum because hes incapable of working with people, and he despises curators.
Mallinson sees something else at work. I think theres a big ego operating there that overpowers everything that man does. I never had the sense he had an undying love of art, and looking back on it, I dont know why he took me on, because my aesthetic isnt in sync with his. It occurred to me that the only reason he wanted to represent me was because Rosamund was interested. (Felsen declined to comment.)
Elizabeth Dunbar was working at the Whitney Museum prior to moving to L.A. in 2000 to work for Chrismas, and she agrees with Mallinson. Hes a selfish, narcissistic man with an enormous ego, and it was all about perception and image with him, says Dunbar, whos now chief curator of the Ulrich Museum of Art in Wichita. If important collectors came from out of town, hed rent a BMW rather than take them around in the Jeep he usually drives, and he was always making empty promises about building a library and publishing catalogs, none of which will ever happen.
Chrismas life outside his galleries is something people really dont know about. The general assumption is that he lives somewhere in one of his galleries, but nobody seems to know for sure. His most recent bankruptcy filing lists his address as 6230 Wilshire Boulevard, but thats a postal service in a strip mall. For the past decade hes kept company with Jennifer Kellen, a senior staff assistant in the education department of the Getty Museum, but hes never married or had children.
Dougs pretty much a loner, says Herman. I always thought he and I were close, but I learned that we are not, and that I was naive to think we were. He once said to me, To the straights Im straight, and to the gays Im gay, but I dont think he has any real friends. He certainly always treated his staff pretty bad.
Elizabeth Dunbar who quit Ace after six months will testify to that. Hes a monster. I saw him berate his receptionists until hed reduced them to tears repeatedly, and although he keeps the finances of the gallery a secret, I heard the rumblings from artists who werent getting paid. We often werent able to cash our paychecks, but there was never an apology you were expected to accept it as part of the territory. He was a total cheapskate, too. Youd have to clock out and take your 30-minute lunch, you couldnt work overtime, he hires day laborers with no art experience to do prep work for exhibitions, and pays them the minimum he can get by with.
Chrismas clearly hasnt lost his flair for alienating people, and he continues to have legal problems. He was sued in 1999 by art dealer Burnett Miller, who committed suicide in 2001. Chrismas filed for bankruptcy again in 1999, too, but 18 months and a blizzard of paperwork later, his bankruptcy filing was dismissed. He was barred from filing Chapter 11 for two years, and ordered to immediately pay his creditors, which included the state Board of Equalization and the IRS.
Chrismas is nothing if not indefatigable, and three months after his defeat in court he took out the lease on the Beverly Hills building. Asked why he opened a second gallery here, Chrismas says, When I saw [Sam Francis] Edge Paintings, I knew I had to show them, and the ceilings arent high enough for them in the Wilshire space. This explanation is puzzling given that last spring Chrismas announced that Ace/Beverly Hills would debut with a James Turrell show. What happened to Turrell? The artist declines to comment, but Chrismas says, Jim wants to build a large environment in the new space, and hes anxious to do something major in L.A., because its been so long since hes done anything here. In the meantime, an exhibition of new work by Mary Corse goes on view there on October 25.
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Chrismas is devoting much of his energy these days to advancing the plans for Frank Gehrys renovation of Ace/Beverly Hills. As to where they are in that process, Gehry says, Weve given him some direction as to where the project might go, and hes used that to get some approvals and find money for it, but he hasnt been back yet to say get going.
Asked if he has any apprehension about embarking on a major project with Chrismas given his reputation, Gehry says, Ive known Doug for years, hes one of the smartest guys in the art world, and weve worked together several times. Hes a special guy complicated, but special and I love him so much I wouldnt want to get into something where it turned bad and we ended up not friends. I always tell him that, so I know he wants to be careful.
Its odd that Chrismas is eager to sink millions of dollars into a building he doesnt own. Asked why hes doing it, he says, I want to give something meaningful to the city.
If you wanted to have a thriving business, you wouldnt do what I do, Chrismas adds. Ive never wanted to be a classical-art dealer. The thing that excites me is enabling artists to feel loose and free in their approach to doing an exhibition, and the way you do that is by giving them space. I made a bond with myself long ago that the people who count are the artists.


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text: Are you ready to celebrate the man who brought books to life for children? We sure are! Check out our fun, colorful selection of Dr. Seuss-themed pajamas. We have footie pajamas for adults, soft fleece lounge pants and matching pant-tee sets. You will be the coolest one in school! Who is your favorite? We love the cat in the Hat (he really knows to have fun!), but sometimes feel more like the Grinch! from One Fish, Two Fish to Thing One and Thing Two, we have your Seuss favorites covered.


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How does it work? Hmm, perhaps there's a card you made some time ago, that you'd like to revamp, an idea you already used but you're itching to revisit, or that one card that didn't quite turn out like you had in mind... whatever the reason, you've now got the opportunity to tackle your own work! Have fun :)
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Latest Weather Blog
Ocean crash kills teen pilot seeking world record
INDIANAPOLIS - The family of an Indiana teenage pilot killed in an ocean plane crash while seeking a world record says he knew his attempt held risks but had trained well for the adventure.
Seventeen-year-old Haris Suleman died when his plane crashed after taking off from Pago Pago in American Samoa Tuesday night. Crews are still searching for his father, Babar Suleman.
Hiba Suleman says the trip had been a dream of her father's for years. Her brother was also excited. He had recently obtained his pilot's license and instrument rating. He planned to be the pilot in command except in an emergency.
She says both had undergone training in how to handle an ocean landing.
The Sulemans were raising money to build schools in Pakistan.


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Thank you for visiting our website! Below you will be able to find the answer to Twisted (wood) crossword clue which was last seen on Metro Crossword, November 29 2016. Our site contains over 2.8 million crossword clues in which you can find whatever clue you are looking for. Since you landed on this page then you would like to know the answer to Twisted (wood). Without losing anymore time here is the answer for the above mentioned crossword clue:
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|Metro November 29 2016
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|Blind alley (4,3)
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The perfect place to find a guesthouse in rio and a bed and breakfast
Like the song: If you go to Rio… and travel to Brazil, mainly to Rio de Janeiro, have a night over in a guesthouse or a bed and breakfast in the area of Santa Teresa.
Santa Teresa has become a touristic spot of Historic Rio de Janeiro: the charming neighborhood on a lovely hillside with panoramic views over Rio de Janeiro stands out for it's colonial architecture and rich cultural live.
Located in the heart of Rio, it provides ready access to the Christ statue of Corcovado (within one of the largest urban forests in the world) as well as to the city centre, sambadromo and beautiful beaches. With an atmosphere reminiscent of that of a small town, it enchants visitors with its panoramic views of the 'Marvellous City', offering a variety of options for eating out from local dishes to international cuisine.
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Rio de Janeiro has a rich background in hospitality, as a result of this many tourist usually flock this region during their vacation, as well as having fun. Over the recent past, the hospitality industry has been growing steadily in Rio, and this can be attested by the development of state of art hotels and motels. For instance, in Santa block there is a number of five-star guesthouses hotels that deliver cr?e de la cr?e service to the customers. These include;
Casa Aurea inn, a guest house that offers full bed and breakfast services as a package. It lies in a colonial like mansion in the heart of Santa Maria in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Moreover,it is just a perfect romantic venue for couples, newlyweds who are on honeymoon, family or even individual tourists. Additionally,it offers a number of services among them; a private room , which comes along with a private ensuite bathroom , an air conditioning and sometimes shared bathrooms. The hotel is a storey building, and on the first floor, it consists of large windows incorporated with wooden shutters, high ceilings, wooden floors, which provide a good feeling when you step on the building. Moreover, at the hotel you will enjoy using things such as hammocks, honor bar, free internet access, and a beautiful garden where you can dine in it.
Secondly, bed and break fast Rio another top notch guest house that is located up on the hill of Santa Teresa. One can access this impeccable hotel near the great forest of Tijuca national park and the heart of Rio de Janeiro. Guesthouse Rio bed and breakfast has an interesting history; it used to be a bakery back in the past days, before the owner decided to convert it into an awesome bed and breakfast guest house. Additionally, the main attractive feature in this hotel is the fact that it has a unique panoramic pool. More so, it provides a cool view of the famous Rio bay. Not forgetting the affordable and sweet cuisine, ranging from traditional dishes to other foreign dishes that will create a memorable feeling when you visit it.
Thirdly, villa Casanova guest house, a one beautiful bed and break fast hotel in the heart of Santa Maria. They offer a wide range of dishes, as well as their general hospitality is top notch. Additionally, there is a good view of Rio bay when you are standing at the balcony of the hotel, more over; they have a beautiful swimming pool, where you can cool off your body after a tiresome day. Apparently, the Manu and Zaba people who live in that region will make you have a memorable feeling about the hotel as a whole. As such, they are very hospital and normally offer free advice pertaining transport and risky places. More so, you can be served with drinks at the bar and restaurant in Guesthouse Rio bed and breakfast.
Finally, Casa da Gente bed and breakfast guesthouse is just the perfect option for tourists. Moreover, the topography of the place is very beautiful and makes the place to look very natural and lovely. Particularly, this guest house has the utmost hospitality, and they offer delicious meals to their customers. Moreover, the rooms are amazing, and well decorated with awesome vintage furniture. For the lovers of environment this the ideal place for you as they have incorporated ecology friendly solutions such as; use of solar panels and skillful collection of rainwater. In conclusion, if you visit ever Rio de Janeiro visit this hotel as you will love everything they offer.


text:
Escape to the Movies: Beautiful Creatures
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Excellent analysis. Thanks. This fits given who the story develops. But frighteningly still:
And Twilight itself. Movie Bob was always slamming that series (among other detractors). Bella is some kind of fantasy character, but what kind? Kind of an empty, malleable vessel willing to die in child birth, etc.
The sleeper has awakened!!!
but on topic, what really turned me off is the whole pure evil/pure good thing the witches has going on, it is really lazy to have bad guy who are evil just because they are. it might do something interesting with it but it would seem it doesnt.
*just watched the finale of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic where that also happened to Twilight Sparkle*
Uh oh.
Definitely good shows, there. I guess because when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was popular I was at a age where my life was engrossed in all thing turtles (as were my friends from that generation), so coming across folks who don't recognize it seems unfathomable.
Interesting side note though: I have a friend who is about your age who grew up in Singapore, and somehow, she ended up growing up watching the same cartoons as I did growing up, at around the same age due to the broadcasting/syndication schedule over there. It was surreal having a nostalgic conversation with someone who wasn't even born while I was enjoying the topic of conversation.
You don't like the nose pad?
I kinda figured it wouldn't be very good. Not just because of the obvious Twilight overtones, but because as a rule of thumb any movie they set in the painfully stereotypical is usually quite groan worthy; especially since that's the area of the country I call home. (hint: most of us sound and act nothing like that) Dear god and those outfits, when is this movie set the f'ing 50's? Nobody, and I mean nobody, dresses like that down here anymore except the very old people who were alive during WWII. The clothes those girls were wearing at school? You'll maybe see some people dress like that on Easter Sunday or for a wedding.
Use that "gothic south" look all you want Hollywood, I actually rather like it, but for the love of his noodly appendage develop a view of the south that isn't poorly impersonated accents, ultra religiousness, or cousin fucking swamp dwellers.
THEY HAD JANE LEVY IN TALKS YET THEY WENT WITH MEGAN FOX?!?! *blood everywhere*
OT: Balls is a surprising thing from a movie like that but, if I do get dragged to see this movie, I'll be awaiting Jeremy Irons in all his glory. I'll even refer to him as Pope Scar in my head.
Bob, I'm going to address you directly again. I agree with a lot of what you have to say, but I think it might help a bit if you actually read more female-oriented literature. Stuff written by women for women, it might help a bit when your evaluating certain aspects of this kind of movie. I've been in positions a few times in my life where I've wound up reading to occupy my mind and not really had much of a choice of what to read (whatever is at hand) so I have a fairly good grasp of some of this.
You keep mentioning sexist retro-morality when you talk about things like "Twilight" or how female "Casters" don't get a choice in their alligience. But I'd point out that the genders do have some differances in terms of what appeals to them and how they think, there are entire books like "Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus" and similar things which go into this. The details aren't important for the most part, but has it ever occured to you that lack of control is part of the appeal, and that a lot of women might agree with some of this morality instinctively? It's something to consider when looking at books written by women, for women, which become popular enough to have things like a movie franchise made about them. As a guy some things that you find anathema or apalling, might not be seen that way by the other side of the gender equasion, rationalism as opposed to relationalism and such.
To put things into a perspective that will probably piss you and some other people off before you really think about it, sometime consider the differance between someone being "ravished" and "raped". To you, there really is no differance, your talking about forced, not entirely willing sexual contact. To a girl though there is a HUGE degree of differance, and that comes out in romance novels and such, where the male lead, who might be represented by a guy like Fabio on the cover, basically rapes the female lead, but she ultimatly wants to be dominated that way by this studmuffin so it's okay. Something which I think leads to a lot of the problems in real life where guys who read this tend to think "this is what women want" when really it comes down to what they think of someone beforehand, and in general... don't go there. The point being though that women find the ideal of giving up control that way sppealing enough under the right circumstances for it to fuel the sales of hundreds upon hundreds of books doing exactly the same basic thing, exactly the same basic way.
While it's not sexual, being caught up in something important, but beyond her control, is part of the sppeal of something like "caster" or other novels where the female protaganist spends a lot of the time more or less out of sorts or out of control, even if they wind up playing a crucial role towards the end of the story.
Ask yourself seriously, if this is actually sexist, or if it's a big part of why something like this gets enough attention to get a movie, and this basic theme gets recycled by women for women through lots of books. Not really getting this kind of thing is in part why a lot of guys are dismissive of "chic lit", and probably also why a lot of women aren't all that attracted to the stuff guys read (though it does happen, along with guys reading the stuff aimed at girls) because they just don't "get" a lot of the conventions, like the protaganist always being in as much control as possible, the same way guys don't see the appeal in it being any other way.
You might think this in of itself sounds sexist, and I suppose from a certain perspective it might be, but that's why I'm suggesting you might want to broaden your reading horizons a bit more, it might help in understanding the appeal of certain things your not really the target audience for.
Otherwise I'll say that I agree especially with the point about good and evil in the media. In most cases to create a sense of jeopardy, good needs to have some excuse to be sitting on it's hands, while evil does pretty much whatever it wants. If the "demons" are rampaging it's more dramatic for a group of heroes to face them against incredible odds than to have the "angels" show up and pretty much wave everyone else to the sideline. It DOES tend to get old, but at the same time in storylines where things are supposed to be relatively secret, and normal seeming to everyone else in the majority of the world, you can't have this kind of thing otherwise good and evil would be going at it 24/7 in the middle of Times Square and none of it would be secret and the world would be very differant from our own.... you know pretty much exactly like comic books where exactly that happens, and good guys and bad guys literally do punch it out in the middle of cities all day while regular folks look on from the sidelines.
In recent memory the most obnoxious example of this recently has probably been "Supernatural" though, for years now they have had the plot revolving around what amounts to a Biblical apocolypse and it's aftermath. With Angels, Demons, and later Leviathans all basically being their own special breed of douchebags while humans get covertly mass murdered as irrelevent on all sides. For this to happen of course the first thing they had to do was sideline God on the weak justification of "he's not getting involved", which raises the whole "WTF why" question, any answer to which will make no sense other than "because we wouldn't have a show otherwise... and aren't all these duelling angels, demons, and monsters so much fuuuun, why should we ruin the endlss carnage by actually having the guy who is supposed to prevent this doing his job for a change". :)
In short, it's something that has been an issue in fiction (except maybe comics) for as long as it's existed, sacrifices to common sense for dramatic tension. It even happens with multi-year long series running on Primetime TV (frequently, in one form or another) why would movies be immune? That said calling a movie out for a lack of logical sense is a good thing, in hopes of getting better writing, but there is no need to harp on the good guys not doing their thing this much, when you could pretty much just leave it with a briefer mention and say that it follows the same old crappy trope of good basically not giving a crap.
Hollywood goes for all the wrong book series when trying to make movies. What do I have to pay for a good Kate Daniels movie?
This plot sounds like every anime I never finished watching.
How is the controller the same as it has been? It has made the necessary updates, nothing more. Why change something that isn't broken?
Chock up one more place that needs copious amounts of thermite. Purge that shit with holy fire.
OT: Figured it wasn't gonna be good, glad I don't have any reason to watch it.
I guess this is the film equivalent of NeverDead. It has an interesting premise (especially for me, since the "Deep South" is close to home but far enough to scoff at), and it squanders the opportunity by stamping on contemporary tropes that don't fit in and by simply failing at the execution of the unique mechanic/intrigue.
Yeah. But all the "No"'s probably won't stop them from making ANOTHER half a billion dollars world wide. Gosh! Who could stand for that green horror!
You're joking, right?
Yeah, of course you are.
Women can be sexist against their own gender. Just like I can be bigoted against other LGBTs, even though I'm part of that group.
Apart from that, it might just be how the movie represents it. I don't know the story, so for all I know it could be a curse or some other magic reason behind it. Honestly I don't see much wrong with it, because it's more of a matter of how much thought you put into it. This is something Bob does, he reads into things and he might be overdoing it.
"Bob only finds metaphors for sexism against women in his reviews, I guess he has something against men."
If popular opinion wasn't so heavily in favor of womens rights, that wouldn't sound so blatantly stupid, but that's a fairly comparable statement, to Bobs' sarcastic reaction.
@Snowalker, thanks for that fix, and thanks for letting me know the rest of what I said in not so off base...
so, unlike the thing it's ripping off there's actually sprinklings of goodness in the setting and premise, they just never sack up and go all the way with it?
that's kinda sad, but then, Michel Bay still has a job so its not un-expected
@ Steve the Pocket. Yep...
All we can do is not write like this, and promote those who do likewise, at least that I where I start...
You actually had my interest up to "instant crush".
As someone who has a hard time with extremist, close-minded thinking, can we please stop pretending it's "gutsy" to attack it? Hollywood is already there. They've been there for like 30 years. Certainly they've always sugar-coated the message with "or, you know, not, if you disagree," so that they wouldn't lose paying customers. And that's apparently what they've done here (I won't be watching the movie to find out, so I'll have to take your word for it). But just the idea that for Hollywood to attack the far right is still "brave" in any meaningful way is demonstrably false.
Hilarious video, Bob! The best part was where you named all those good/bad factions from pop culture, and I thought you were going to stop at griffindor/slytherin, but I lost it at G.I.JOE/COBRA! I knew you'd rip this flick a few new ones since that one preview episode of yours, and you did not dissapoint!
Is it just me, or do I only know Emmy Rossum from complete cinematic trainwrecks?
"Cause wymmin. Am I right fellas?"
Women write it. Women love it. But let me berate men anyway.
Yet another book/movie series that takes female choice and murders it.
Personally, I'm glad that they're getting Megan Fox to play April. It was pretty much a forgone conclusion since the moment Michael Bay became involved with the project that the new Ninja Turtles movie was going to suck, but there was still a risk that it would end up as the jjTrek kind of suck where the movie still ends up making a lot of money and is allowed to define the franchise going forward. News like this just increases the chances of the movie being a complete and utter failure that can be written off and forgotten about like The Next Mutation was.
Magical hook-ups specifically or gothic fantasy in general?
Gothic and urban fantasy has been popular for ages - it's just that Twilight pushed it to world-conquering levels of popularity. People (of all ages) love the idea of a secret world hidden within our own world. It's like a special club you can join, but one where people have magical powers. The Harry Potter books are another good example.
Hook-ups between magical beings and mortal humans have been popular in fiction for centuries. Like Romeo and Juliet, there's an inherent melodrama in the idea of two people desperately in love, but forced apart by some unchangeable difference. And from another (more titillating) angle, gods/immortals sleeping with human women is a subject that artists have adored since Classical times! Check out the number of paintings and sculptures depicting Zeus seducing Europa.
You would address him more directly by just sending him a message. ;)
woops double post
Am I the only one who really hates those secret world story's?
There's nothing that can break my suspension of disbelief faster I don't care how many amnesia spells you use the existence of the internet means that people will discover this secret world.
And let's not even get into the sheer stupidity of the government not knowing about something as big as the fact that magic exists.
Because it IS broken. The Sony controller was originally designed without the analog sticks. After the N64 came out, Sony decided to slap a couple of analog sticks on there, because even back then they were copying everything Nintendo did, and the lack of planning shows. The analog sticks are simply too clunky to use with their current positioning unless you have abnormally long thumbs.
I feel strongly against your hypothesis.
So the ball is in your court if you wish to continue to defend your point of view, I'd love to see what you have to say
I saw the April O'Neil thing earlier... it begins people, lets get ready to ride this Trainwreck all over again.
Why was the borderline sexist magic rule brought up as an issue, but the blanket stereotype of southerners never addressed? As an Asian who grew up in Georgia I can attest the vast majority southerners are sincerely kind people. Different political views does not a bigot make :T
That's sort of not the same thing, there are plenty of situations in anime and video games of male characters being put in situations beyond their control or given powers without their choice. Cherry-picking examples from an almost infinite base of fictional media to make a specific point about something almost completely unrelated isn't really helpful.
The problem here, as Bob pointed out, was the fact that somehow female casters in this universe can't choose their morality or decisions. Both Serena and Sakura are fully capable of acting badly or immorally, they're given the powers, but not really dictated to on how to use them. I know it's almost cliched to bring it up at this point, but Madoka does a really good job of exploring the idea of accepting that kind of power, for what reason they might accept it and what they end up doing with it.
Thanks for the heads up, Bob. I was going to go see this next week with my best friend and now I can safely give it a pass. And hah, silly me, thinking that because this time it was the dude who was plain and powerless while the girl was the powerful supernatural creature, that it'd be a feminist-positive film.
Ugh, I can only imagine how furious I would've left the theatre. I would've ranted about the sexist magic rules for hours afterwards.
Hey. What you're talking about is rape culture. The social message that men are supposed to be powerful, aggressive and dominant, while women are supposed to be passive, delicate and enjoy being "ravished" (that is, raped), is a very deeply rooted bit of misogyny that we still can't shake off as a society. Rape culture isn't just that, it's far broader, deeper and encompasses more aspects of daily life (that's why it's termed rape culture), but the gist of it is that women are taught to embrace rape and abuse as desirable things, and to surrender their sexuality, agency and power to the patriarchy.
Thankfully, we are slowly working on getting rid of this really harmful societal message, but it's going to take time and a lot of effort. And in the meantime, we're going to get horrible, horrible things like fetishised rape and abuse.
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Next season, there will be a new playoff system for big time college football.
A committee, which includes former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, will select the four teams that will play in the semifinals ahead of the championship game.
That system will replace the Bowl Championship Series which has, until now, determined which college teams play for the national championship.
John Bacon, a journalist who has written about college football, tells Here & Now's Meghna Chakrabarti the new system is sort of like the old Who song that goes "new boss, same as the old boss."
- John Bacon, author of "Fourth And Long: The Fight For The Soul Of College Football." He tweets @Johnubacon.
Well, now, from Washington to big-time college football, which is seeing some fairly big changes to its playoff system. The new college football playoff selection committee will pick the squads that will play in a new four-team playoff for the national championship next season.
This week, we're learning who's on that committee. A bunch of interesting names, including Archie Manning, father of pro quarterbacks Eli and Peyton Manning. Also on the committee, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. John Bacon is here to explain. He's author of "Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football." He joins us from a Michigan Radio. John, welcome back to HERE AND NOW.
JOHN BACON: Thank you, Meghna.
CHAKRABARTI: OK. So first of all, let me ask you, I remember back in the day reading an article about Condoleezza Rice and that she would watch football in the mornings while running on the treadmill and that she is a huge football fan. But why does that make her qualified enough member for this new committee?
BACON: A fair question, of course. But, honestly, some of the current ADs have not played football or ever coached football. So these days, I think it's more about professionalism than it is about your actual background. That said, of course, Pat Dye, the Auburn coach who coached Bo Jackson famously, he said that to understand football, you got to play with your hand in the dirt. So as you might imagine, some of the good old boys are against her, but other guys, like Steve Spurrier, who'd actually won national titles said, she's a Stanford graduate, and she plays a little golf. Why not?
BACON: And that seems to be the consensus. You got to figure also, if you can handle Ahmadinejad, you are going to handle these egos. But that's not a guarantee.
CHAKRABARTI: I know. I was going to say because, you know, football is a serious business. But who else is part of this group?
BACON: You've got four athletic directors from Clemson, West Virginia, Wisconsin and USC. You got a bevy of former players, coaches, commissioners and even a former sports reporter, Steve Wieberg, late of the USA Today. So you'd think that if you can handle a sports reporter, you can probably handle a woman on the committee.
CHAKRABARTI: Well, before we talk about what this committee is actually going to do, let's take a step back and talk about how college football championships were picked up until now because to the uninitiated - and I'm going to include myself in this - it always seems like the same teams, like Alabama win anyway.
BACON: To we Michigan fans, it feels the same way, trust me.
BACON: We share your pain on that one. In every other sport you have a playoff, but not in college football for over a century, since 1869, when the first game was played. Until 1998, they picked it by polls basically. So it was very common to have two or even more than that, national champions, because they did not necessarily even play each other during the season. So that was very common.
In fact, the last year, in '97, Michigan split with Nebraska based on the AP poll versus the coaches' poll. So that's how that often broke down. But in '98, they went to the BCS, the Bowl Championship Series, which is where they picked two teams, the top two teams, to make them play each other in the final game.
And that always resulted in one national title at least, one national champion. So that improved in that sense. But now, they're going to go to four teams, so they're going to have a final four playoff in January. And that will be the new system.
CHAKRABARTI: OK. So hang on. Let me - I'm a little confused here, so let me just back up a second.
BACON: Sure. And you should be confused.
CHAKRABARTI: So they're going to pick four teams now. But I guess I'm still not fully clear on how the new system differs from the old one, except that they have this new committee.
BACON: Meghna, well done. They do not want you think that, but that's exactly the same situation. The old complaint was that they picked two teams based on polls, strength of schedule, computerized rankings. And now, they're going to have a selection committee pick four teams based on polls, strength of schedule and computerized rankings.
So how that solves a problem, I've got no idea. What it does do, instead of the third-place team complaining that they did not get a chance at the title, now, you have a fifth-place team making the same complaint. So, voila, problem solved. What it is going to mean is a whole lot more money for college football, $470 million for the TV rights alone, this year alone. That's big money.
CHAKRABARTI: Wow. OK. So I - make the argument, if you can, about why some people might think this is a better system.
BACON: Their argument is going to be that by having four teams instead of two teams, it's closer to a real NFL-style playoff and therefore merit is rewarded, therefore if you're in the top four, you got a shot, et cetera. I'm going to argue the opposite. I'm a dinosaur. I'm against the whole thing. Just a few years ago, teams would play 11 games and only 11 teams got to play in bowl games. Now, all teams play 12 games. There are 35 bowls, so 70 teams play in bowl games.
We've also got conference title games now. You throw in two games on top of that for this playoff, a college team now can play up to 15 games, which is, obviously, about 50 percent more than most teams would in the old days. The coaches get bonuses for getting the bowls. They get bonuses for winning national titles. Les Miles, a few years ago against Alabama, would have received $5 million, doubling his paycheck for one game against Alabama if he won. And as you know, he lost.
The players, of course, receive nothing but extra practices. So all these games are tacked on - the concussions, the knee injuries, you name it - on these amateur athletes while the moneymakers make more money. So I do not see this as a step forward.
CHAKRABARTI: OK. So before I ask this next question, college football fans across the nation, I ask your forgiveness in advance. But here goes.
BACON: I'm listening.
CHAKRABARTI: Why can't they just have a regular playoff system? I mean, if they can do it in college basketball, what's so hard about brackets?
BACON: And you've got a mini bracket now. You've got a final four, so it's going in that direction. And trust me, once you've got four teams, they're going to add another game. You'll have eight teams before too long, I guarantee you this. But the main reason is what I described - and this is the hypocrisy of the whole thing - on the one hand, they're saying it's too much. We can't go more. And the other hand, they're saying, we've already got 15 games. Let's milk it. So the bottom line is, too many games, these guys need to be back in school, and there's the injury factor. But they're already breaking that rule, anyway.
CHAKRABARTI: John Bacon's latest book is "Fourth and Long: The Fight for the Soul of College Football." John, thanks so much.
BACON: Meghna, thank you.
CHAKRABARTI: By the way, new system or not, John still thinks Alabama's going to win. So let us know what you think about this new playoff system. Give us a shout out at hereandnow.org. You're listening to HERE AND NOW. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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WASHINGTON — The Pentagon says US military forces have targeted the Islamic extremist al-Shabaab network in an operation in Somalia.
Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby says the US is looking at the results and will provide more information when appropriate. No further details were available.
Monday's action comes after Somali government forces regained control of a high-security prison in the capital that was attacked Sunday by seven heavily armed suspected Islamic militants who attempted to free other extremists held there.
The Pentagon statement did not indicate whether the US action was related to the prison attack.
Somali officials say all the attackers, three government soldiers and two civilians were killed.
The Mogadishu prison is an interrogation center for Somalia's intelligence agency, and many suspected militants are believed to be held there.


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Your data intensive business requires systems and applications to manage complex information.
Our business intelligence experts help organizations determine the best solutions for their business reporting needs.
Oracle's Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition (OBIEE) allows fast, secure access to your data from anywhere in the world. Using our InstantOn deployment, organizations can have a fully operational OBIEE setup in place in a matter of weeks.
For customers evaluating Oracle Exalytics, the industry's first engineered system for in-memory analytics, we have an in house Oracle Exalytics machine dedicated to Proof of Concepts and testing.
|Contact us


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Automated external defibrillator training Monday
The Office of Regulatory Compliance & Safety and Human Resources Management are partnering to bring Medic First Aid International training to the MSU campus. After participating in the three-hour interactive session, attendees will be certified to administer an Automated External Defibrillator (AED).
This program will help MSU employees in responding to and caring for medical emergencies at work. Topics covered in the program include: basic AED operation and basic maintenance of an AED. The AED used in this training is the Philips Onsite Heartstart, the only AED that can be purchased without a medical prescription.
Only MSU employees that hold a current certification from the Medic Basic CPR and First Aid may participate in the AED training.
Each class is limited to 12 participants and a minimum of seven attendees must be present to hold the class. Please wear comfortable clothes to the session. Training session and location are:
Monday, July 25, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Room 231, Colvard Student Union
Tuesday, Aug. 23, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., Room 231, Colvard Student Union
If you are interested in attending, please follow the steps listed below to register:
1. Click this link: http://orc.msstate.edu/quicklinks/training.php
2. Under Currently Scheduled Live Classes, you will see the title Defensive Driving. Click the title for the date you wish to register.
3. You will need your NetID and password to access the "Enroll in a Course" page.
4. Click the title for the date you wish to register, and then click "Yes" to enroll, or "No" to be returned to the enrollment page.
If you have questions about this course, please contact MSU safety officer Alicia Musselwhite at firstname.lastname@example.com or (662) 325-4607.


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Today, Hostal Autralia recomendation is:
Morryssom Bar,
Saturday, 4.20pm, the lunchtime rush has died down. Most local customers
are taking coffee and *licors*. "Paella for Pablo," the call goes out. And,
at 4.23pm Pablo has his paella, done the way he wants it – with a whole *
butifarra *(sausage) on the side. This very popular, well-organised, local
standby, its pavement tables set to catch the best of the afternoon
sunshine, is always busy. For good reason – they serve a reliably good
range of tapas including *pescadito frito *(whitebait) *gambas
rebozadas *(prawns in a light batter), mussels, sausages and the whole kaboodle. Vegetarians
will be pleased to note that they serve a wonderful vegetable paella with
goat's cheese. The terrace is a good spot in the evening.
• *Carrer de Girona 162, Barcelona, tel: +34 93 458 4817. Open Mon-Sat


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Rob Mendoza needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 111 designs submitted by 29 freelance designers.
My name is Roberto, and I have a passion for beer. Myself and 3 other individuals have a company that specalize in craft beers. Our Company Berto Beer is going to put Craft Brews on the map. Craft beers are innovating and complex, and yet easy to drink and great on the palette. We create beer for the simple fact that we want to be apart of the most memorable times people experience. Celebrations are needed in life and we just want to be part of the party.
Anyone who enjoys a great tasting beer. (Over the age of 21.)
This is the idea we had in mind. We are looking for a beer logo on the bottle, only on the bottle, not the neck of the bottle. The background will be black. The text BERTO BEER will be displayed on top of the logo, in a arched look.Colors suggested for text is white, red, gray,yellow,orange and brown. Under BERTO BEER will be an abstract profile of a woman- no face featuers, just a simple clean BUT SEXY artistic image. Colors suggested for IMAGE are red, grey, yellow, orange and white. An abstract siloute or your personal touch. Some references we like, are simple, a good reference is the mlb logo or golf logo. SIMPLE. Then below the IMAGE of the woman the text BERTO BREWING COMPANY OR CO.Colors suggested for text are white, red. The text and image IS to be in the same color. That Simple. Just to recap BERTO BEER on top, IMAGE of a woman in the middle, and BERTO BREW COMPANY on the bottom. Some references that I really like are the simplicity and timeless class of the Macintosh Apple or the Sephora S. If you can take the Sephora S and give it breast and back that is what I envision. Thank You for your time and good luck, be apart of the future of beer!
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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In the continuing series of year-end "tune-up" tips for your collaboration and unified communications systems from Azaleos, we focus on keeping SharePoint 2010 operating at maximum efficiency and availability. Here are its 2011 top 10 management tips for SharePoint.
Five Best Practices for Social Media Care Best practices for caring for customer through social media.
Emerging Cyber Threats for 2012 Georgia Tech forecasts cyber threats for 2012.
'Tis the Season to Be Grateful:
Top 5 Triggers for 'Thank You' Emails Simple but powerful email campaign ideas to build loyalty with customers.
Related Topics : Box.net, IT Management Automation, SharePoint, Facebook, T-Mobile
Enterprise social collaboration solutions are most successful when they contribute to business value and benefits that address company goals. ... More >>
Chosen carefully, collaboration tools will save time, cut costs and reduce complications associated with storing and retrieving documents throughout a company's operations. ... More >>
With the consumerization of AR, it appears the technology is finally within arm's reach for those savvy enterprises willing to reach out and grab it. ... More >>


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