WTF?
Saturday, May 19, 2012
The Ricky Graham and Betty White cake: Separated at baking?
Posted by Kevin Allman on Sat, May 19, 2012 at 11:31 AM
We got a press release about the recent Friars Club roast of Betty White, which featured a cake in the actress' image constructed by TLC's Cake Boss.
It was an impressive piece of pastry, but it didn't really look much like Ms. White. It did, however, look a lot like local actor Ricky Graham, who is starring in Shirley Valentine at Southern Rep. Consider:
- TLC
- SOUTHERN REP
Friday, May 4, 2012
Groupon invites you to pay to be a movie extra
Posted by Lauren LaBorde on Fri, May 4, 2012 at 3:36 PM
Those offerings are at best weird and useless, but today's New Orleans offer borders exploitive: Groupon wants to you to pay $149 to be an extra in a locally made zombie movie. Instead of getting paid to be in a movie, which used to be how it worked, you can pay for the privilege of smearing fake blood all over your face and standing around for several hours.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Why John Derbyshire hated New Orleans
Posted by Kevin Allman on Fri, Apr 6, 2012 at 4:50 PM
When the National Review's John Derbyshire came to New Orleans in 2007 and wrote about the experience, I defended the city but didn't come down too hard on Derbyshire — one, because not everyone has to like the same things, and two, because the flat affect of his prose made me wonder whether he fell on the high-functioning side of the autism spectrum.
The following passage, for instance, came close to the top of the travelogue and seemed to go a long way toward explaining why he felt so uncomfortable in New Orleans:
From the tourist’s-eye view, New Orleans is a black city. The servicepeople at the airport, the hotel, concessions, stores, museums, and fast-food outlets are uniformly black. Most of the people you pass on the street, outside the tourist precincts, are black. I think this is the blackest American city I have been in.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Move over, king cake vodka: Here comes KING REX
Posted by Kevin Allman on Thu, Apr 5, 2012 at 1:42 PM
KING REX! Are there two more regally redundant words in the English and Latin languages? Of course not — and all we can say is: Move over, king cake vodka, because Carnival-themed cocktail luxurie is in da house.
The Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America is holding its convention in Las Vegas, and New Orleans cocktail guru and rum-bum-about-town Wayne Curtis is there to report for his Slow Cocktails blog. It was Curtis, a veritable rum-soaked Ponce de Leon, who stumbled across King Rex Vodka, King Rex Bourbon and King Rex Rum, three new New Orleans-themed boozes fit for a king ... or a king rex.
Let's learn more. From the company's website:
The King REX brand has pushed the boundaries even further when it came to creating its bottles. The designs include unique crystal jewels, but also feature an interesting shape face showcasing an intricate colorful painted texture mask seen at Carnival. The exquisite bottle capsulation is as regal as any King's crown with each bottle neck painstaking design for the ultimate ease to speed pour. Each designers bottle identifies the category of spirits by their Carnival color of purple "Justice" King REX Ultra-Premium Vodka, green "Faith" King REX Ultra-Premium Silver Rum, and gold " Power" King REX Ultra-Premium Bourbon. Each bottle has a LED light that can be switched on from the base of the bottle for a more translucent glorious "come and celebrate with Rex" statement. These bottles could easily be mistaken for an avant-garde artwork. The bottle and packaging have been designed with the respect and traditional of its New Orleans and Venetian masquerade culture.
More under the cut, including a unique KING REX recipe that will satisfy your itch for a piece of dried jicama in your Sazerac ...
Friday, March 16, 2012
This American Life retracts damning Apple story
Posted by Lauren LaBorde on Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 12:42 PM
The show's website says this Sunday's episode will be devoted to "detailing the errors" of the episode with Marketplace reporter Rob Schmitz, and Daisey appears on the show to talk with Glass "about why he misled This American Life during the fact-checking process."
This American Life airs 1 p.m. Saturday and 5 p.m. Sunday locally on WWNO (89.9 FM), and you can find the episode after 6 p.m. on Sunday night here. This should be some good radio.
UPDATE: Here is a press release from This American Life with more specifics on the fabricated details.
Lesbian daughter = "Katrina hitting New Orleans"
Posted by Kevin Allman on Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 12:19 PM
By now we've all heard plenty of bizarre Hurricane Katrina-related similes, metaphors and comparisons, but this was a new one on me.
It seems Minnesotans will vote in November on a Louisiana-style constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, and a group called the Public Insight Network is gathering voter opinions and putting them on YouTube. That's the background of this clip from a fellow named Mark Hayes:
"My response to one of my daughters being a lesbian would be — would be a lot like Katrina hitting New Orleans."
Friday, February 24, 2012
The Human Centipede II is playing at Prytania, if you're into that
Posted by Lauren LaBorde on Fri, Feb 24, 2012 at 5:17 PM
I'm not necessarily recommending you see The Human Centipede II — I found the second installment of Tom Six's gastro gross-out franchise (which isn't over yet, people) to be entirely unwatchable. The handful of humorous horror movie cliches and the "is this really a movie?" factor made the first film somewhat digestible, but the second film is basically an 88-minute-long nightmare from the bowels (pun completely intended) of hell.
But it was a midnight screening at the Prytania Theatre that introduced me to the first film, and the experience of seeing the reactions from fellow viewers was enough to make me not completely regret the evening. If you can stomach it, the theater screens the sequel at midnight Friday and Saturday. Besides a brief stint during last year's New Orleans Film Festival, this is the only time I've seen the film screened in the city since its 2011 release (there's probably a reason for that).
Looks like some people are excited!
The trailer, if you dare, is after the jump.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
NOPD statement on Bam Margera's detention at Mardi Gras
Posted by Kevin Allman on Thu, Feb 23, 2012 at 2:01 PM
Yesterday we told you about Jackass star Bam Margera's detention by New Orleans police on Lundi Gras — which, Margera said, stemmed from his refusal to leave a hotel pool (he was fully clothed at the time).
Today we have the NOPD's side of things, which also spells out where the incident occurred: at Hotel Le Marais on Conti Street in the French Quarter. NOPD spokesperson Remi Braden explains in an email:
Bam Margera of “Jackass” was briefly detained at the Eight District station on Lundi Gras. He jumped into the hotel pool at the Hotel Le Marais fully-clothed. Hotel staff got one of our officers who was working a detail for the hotel, and the officer escorted Margera out of the pool area. Margera was then taken to the 8th District, where he was questioned about the incident, and a possible “disturbing the peace” charge. But soon a hotel manager came to the station and said the hotel did not wish to press charges.At this point, Margera was released with the manager. This is a closed case.
Margera had been in town for a fundraiser Sunday night at Republic, the "Boobies Bash":
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Jackass star Bam Margera says he was hauled in by NOPD officers during Carnival
Posted by Kevin Allman on Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 5:38 PM
According to Margera, the trouble began when NOPD officers ordered him to get out of a hotel swimming pool due to the fact he was swimming with clothes and shoes on — whereupon he ignored them and continued to do the backstroke. (Ignoring an NOPD command during Mardi Gras is a stunt worthy of Jackass, frankly.) In Margera's telling, officers threatened to use a Taser on him (which the "hotel lady" was all for), but another employee convinced the gendarmerie that Taser + water = electrocution.
Regarding the alleged incident (what's the opposite of skinnydipping?), Margera told TMZ, "I don't think there's a crime in that, because my dad's fat and he goes in the pool with his T-shirt on."
We've requested comment from the NOPD. Meanwhile, here's the Margera side of things, and it's New Orleans-weird enough to be Nicolas Cageworthy ...
Monday, February 20, 2012
The New Orleans Hornets mascot (Scary) King Cake Baby
Posted by Kevin Allman on Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 2:20 PM
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This is the same kind of thing that happened to radio stations starting in the…
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What I would like to know is are my subscription rates going down now. If…
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So now, NOLA.com will get even worse? TP reporters censoring comments to…
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