We love good pictures. Photographers do, and most artists I've met feel the same way. These folks get electrified by images. Same thing for TV surfers, movie buffs, kindergarten moms, and gossip columnists. Which is the long way of saying the TMZ. In the best hands, pictures present powerful stories -- dramas, tragedies, comedies. And sometimes all at once:
BRITNEY'S DOWNWARD SPIRAL
What a fun example. Its' pop culture cruelty at its finest. But is it news? More like an episode of COPS. But laugh, cry, or leave the kids in the back to slam a forty, it's a twenty-year tale that couldn't be told better. Unless we mix in comics. We love us some superheroes.
JOHN MAYER GOES TO BAT(MAN) FOR BRIT
Check out the pointy ears. That's musician John Mayer in a fabulous Batman hoodie. I was hoping for an Aquaman hoodie. I didn't know Mayer was a fanboy, either. But hey - that's one for our side. Seems like he's also a Britney Spears fan, too. Apparently, downward spiraling Britney's Circus tour is in the Land Down Under, and the Aussies are outraged that she's been lip-syncing concerts. They probably think Madonna's a real virgin, too.
Mayer burst their bubble this morning in Britney's defense with a single tweet: "If you're shocked that Britney was lip-syncing at her concert and want your money back, life may continue to be hard for you." You go, oh wise abbracadabbler!
LIFE ON MARS
We couldn't resist this picture for The [Captured] Motion Gallery. The intense color (which was accompanied by a big drop in temperature) makes this appear like a scene from The Martian Chronicles, but the photo's very real. Luna Park was snapped September 23-24th during the massive dust storm that blew across Australia. At one point, the two-day storm covered nearly three states wide and measured over 2,000 miles in length.
The dust storm was liked to what Armageddon or nuclear winter and could be seen from space. First this, then the Britney upset. I've been to Burning Man, and I'd be pee-oh'd, too.
A FOUNDATION FOR TRUE SUPERHEROES
Speaking of Burning Man, Metropolis: The Life of Cities has been chosen as the 2010's event art theme. It's amazing that a fair amount of radical self-expression and a San Francisco beach bonfire back in '86 can evolve into Black Rock City's celebrated annual convergence of 48,000+ living la vie Boheme.
My first - and last - visit to Black Rock City, Nevada was seven years ago, and Metropolis is calling me back like Clark Kent. If you've never been, it's an experience of a lifetime that'll make Australia's storm feel like a backyard dust devil. A week of arctic nights, broiling days, and clay in every nook, crack, and cranny God gave you.
But I can't recommend a well-planned trip to La Playa more. Metropolis will be more Grant Morrison's Gotham City than Superman's urban enclave, but you can be assured a legion of superheroes will be calling it home.
Those in doubt, take a peek at Burning Man's Mission Statement: ...The touchstone of value in our culture will always be immediacy: experience before theory, moral relationships before politics, survival before services, roles before jobs, embodied ritual before symbolism, work before vested interest, and participant support before sponsorship...
A superhero mantra that reads like the Justice League's charter should be enough to motivate anybody. It got me there in 2002. Well, either that or the fact they'll let you run around naked.
APROPOS NATALIE PORTMAN
I love Natalie Portman. She made the second trio of Star Wars movies at least watchable. Not to mention that she'll be back on the superhero scene in 2011 with Marvel Studio's Thor. Hard to believe five years have passed since her Evy Hammond in V for Vendetta, Warner Bros' adaptation of Alan Moore's 1982 comic series. With last week's Guy Fawkes Day, the movie's on everybody's minds, including the publishers of V Magazine.
The World of Fashion has a fascinating obsession with superheroes, especially the darker ones. It's a topic worthy of the Comics Meme --- and Tim Gunn. CMG has Ms. Portman's debut on V Mag's current December cover, looking like something an early Sex Pistols album. We've heard she dishes about sex on the inside, too, though it's heavier on the sobbing than sleaze. And tosses in a few complaints about The Professional, her privacy, and the perils of aging actresses for good measure. All in all, Portman's a pressure box of extremities...or extreme insecurities. We're not sure, but Natalie - we'd love to see you more centered next time. Just ask yourself, What would Marge Simpson say?
'V' ARRIVES HIGH
Warner Bros' reimagining of the 1983 alien invasion mini just became sci-fi TV's biggest smash and ABC's strongest series. V surprised the world last week by visiting over 14 million viewers' homes with its premiere episode last Tuesday. That made V the highest-rated show of the new Fall Season, and this week's most anticipated hour on television. Nobody thought V would even air a month ago, which may be the reason ABC only has four completed episodes to air. V quit production last month and won't be back on set until spring. And audiences are fickle when it comes to these narrative gaps. They didn't hurt Battlestar Galactica, but for Heroes, a better world might not be possible.
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