LostHawk » Entertainment

The Beatles and Costumes for Identity

admin — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 01:10:00 +0000

The Beatles signify a shift in culture. Perhaps it’s more apt to say that they signify several rather important shifts, as their life as a band saw many incarnations, and even today enjoys new revolutions in thought about their importance. Their popularity can be gauged in sheer numbers of record sales, or in Beatles Costumes rentals, or even in the number of tribute bands in the world.

Their contributions to culture are almost as deep and rich as their contributions to world music, although some might argue that these are one and the same thing. There is a great deal of fortune for the Fab Four , having grown up in public together at a time when some of the most serious re-imaginings of culture were in the air. At the same time, they were at the forefront of shaping these things.

While others were beginning to imagine the possibility of other identities for themselves in the world, the Beatles embodied it. Their Sgt. Pepper album is a significant shift in musical direction, but it’s also a shift in visible culture. By adopting military uniforms, and then modifying them to the colors that matched the sensibility of the time, they were wearing their revolution, quite literally, on their own bodies. Rather than simply pleading for an embodiment of new ideas, they took it on themselves to become what they were preaching, and the guitars still gently weep.

The Beatles and Costumes for Identity is a post from: LostHawk

Comedy and Open Mic Clubs Cincinnati

admin — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 01:10:00 +0000

People have different ways of experiencing new cities and cultures. Some think that the only way to really get to know a city is by sampling the local food. Others think that experiencing a locally based performance is the key to understanding a new place while there are still others who think this is dependent on a combination of these features. Then there is a large population of people who feel that the only way to really experience a new city is by getting up and performing at an open mic music venue or comedy club. Those people exist from the extreme population, while others among them feel you just have to enjoy a performance at one of the clubs.

For that population of tourists who visit the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, they are in luck. Cincinnati has some great comedy clubs as well as live music open mic venues. And even the luxury hotels Cincinnati have been known to get in on the act, pardon the pun. They have hosted comedy competitions, which by the way is becoming something of a national obsession. Meanwhile, other clubs in town like Go Bananas Comedy Club host some incredible comedians and provide some of the best laughs you can hope to find this side of the Ohio River.

Go Bananas has various shows and features some of the top local talent. The club also hosts competitions and has a great menu to compliment the show. RP Mcmurphy’s is a great place to enjoy and maybe even participate in some open mic performances. Open mics are most frequently associated with music though they also feature poetry readers and comedians. If you are interested in performing at an open mic club, all you need to do is call in advance and ask what their requirements and potential limits are and then show up with your material and your friends and begin your path to stardom. Or at least have a great time enjoying your stay in Cincinnati and getting a feel for the local culture. You might want to try some of the food while you’re there, too.

Comedy and Open Mic Clubs Cincinnati is a post from: LostHawk

Tickets to New Yorks TV Shows

admin — Mon, 17 May 2010 01:10:00 +0000

Is one of your TV shows taped in New York City? For instance, like the morning TV shows: Today Show, Good Morning America, or late night TV shows like: Late Night with Jimmy Fallon or the Late Show with David Letterman. Well, getting free tickets to see these shows is easier than you think and making reservations at a New York hotel that is right around the corner from one of these TV shows is a breeze, learn more at .

The Today Shows studio is on the ground-floor level at the corner of 49th Street and Rockefeller Center and overlooks the Rockefeller plaza. Each weekday, just outside the studio, you’ll see many eager tourists wave their hand-made signs hoping to get on television to show the world and their friends that they’ve made it to New York City. If you’d like to participate, you’ll have to get there very early in the morning, usually around 5am. All you need to do is head up to the Rockefeller Plaza between 49th and 50th Streets and park yourself outside the studio.

You can join with Good Morning America’s Diane Sawyer, Chris Cuomo, Robin Roberts, Sam Champion at their Times Square location, weekdays from 7am to 9am, click on their website and get free tickets by filling out an on-line form. Even though the official address is 7 Lincoln Square, the best way to locate the studio is to go to the corner of West 67th and Columbus Avenue. You’ll need to be there by 7am for a stand-by number, if you didn’t get the free tickets on line; standbys are seated first-come, first-serve after the ticket holders.

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tickets are available in advance either by phone, going to the website, or get standby tickets offered daily at the NBC Experience store.

Saturday Night Live tickets are only available once a year by lottery in August. But they are good for both live tapping’s and dress rehearsals. You can try waiting in line for standby tickets on the day of tapping, but so are hundreds of other people.

David Letterman’s Late Show tickets are available by request on their website and in person at the Ed Sullivan Theater. You might also try same-day standby tickets to callers who correctly answer a trivia question.

Tickets to New Yorks TV Shows is a post from: LostHawk

Pat Conroy’s Coastal South Carolina

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:10:00 +0000

Readers familiar with the author Pat Conroy think of him as being born in South Carolina because he has used that state’s coast and low country as settings in so many of his books. He was actually born in Georgia; however, being the son of a Marine colonel, he frequently moved around southern military bases. When he was 15, his family moved to historic Beaufort, South Carolina on Port Royal Island. Parris Island and a naval base are nearby. He desperately wanted to put down roots in this second oldest South Carolina town known for its antebellum architecture and quiet ways of living.

Conroy lived in South Carolina’s oldest city, Charleston, when he attended the Citadel Military Academy located there. He became a writer while at school, self-publishing his first book, “The Boos,” which criticized the academy’s policies. His 1980 book, “The Lord of Discipline,” also was inspired by his experiences at the academy, as is his recent memoir, “My Losing Season.”

After graduating from the Citadel, Conroy taught English in Beaufort. He then went to Daufuskie Island (a remote South Carolina island) where he taught in a one-room schoolhouse. After his first year there, he was fired for refusing to spank students and for his disrespect toward school administrators’ methods. His book, “The Water is Wide,” based on that experience was made into the movie, “Conrack” in 1974.

Conroy loved the Beaufort area so much that he has settled 19 miles south east of there, on Fripp Island. Beaufort was named by “Southern Living” magazine as the “Best Small Southern Town.” It was used as the setting in two movies made from Conroy’s books — “The Prince of Tides” and “The Great Santini.” As an aside, if you saw the movie “Forrest Gump,” then you’re familiar with Beaufort because it was also filmed there.

Tourists flock to the historic district in Beaufort. They often stay in nearby Charleston, where there are many luxury places to stay . Beaufort covers 304 acres and was founded by the French in 1562, though it didn’t become an official town until 300 years ago. In 2011 there will be gigantic celebrations marking that anniversary.

Beaufort offers many festivals for tourists and locals. Some of the major ones are:
A Taste of Beaufort — first Saturday in May
The Water Festival — middle of July
Shrimp Festival — first weekend in October
Tours of homes and plantations are big draws, as is Charleston. The state’s most popular park is nearby Hunting Island.

Conroy is very fond of Charleston, Colleton County, the barrier islands like Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms. He has used these settings in some of his novels. “Beach Music” was set in Charleston. His most recent novel, “South of Broad,” published 14 years after his last book, is set there and refers to scenic Broad Street with its stately, colorful old mansions. In 1999, he published “The Pat Conroy Cookbook,” which contains his favorite recipes and stories to go with them, as well as stories about growing up in South Carolina.

Pat Conroy’s Coastal South Carolina is a post from: LostHawk

Santa Barbara International Film Festival

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:35:40 +0000

As if the city of Santa Barbara California wasn’t beautiful enough, well, okay it is beautiful enough, but as if that wasn’t enough to attract all of the tourists to its streets and beaches there are numerous cultural attractions, festivals and other entertainment features that not only keep its residence satisfied and inspired, they also contribute to the city’s overall reputation and the amazing attraction it holds to many people from around the country as well as the rest of the world. One of the major annual festivals that continues to fill the city’s hotels and resorts is the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Click here for information on the best places to stay during the festival as well as at other times throughout the year.

The film festival just celebrated its 25th season last month showcased an amazing selection of American independent films as well as those from the international independent scene. The traditional location of the opening and closing night festivities is the historic Arlington Theatre, and this in itself has become something of an honored festival tradition. Every year there are a diverse selection of film viewing and event attendance packages that are structured to fit most interests and budget needs.

The eleven-day festival generally includes twenty world premieres and eleven United States premieres. It has featured appearances by some of the top professionals in the film industry including Leonardo DiCaprio . Other major public figures, such as Al Gore have also been part of the festival. This great festival honors the historic film making background of the city of Santa Barbara. In addition to the full length films that are included in the program there are opportunities for students to participate. One of these programs is the 10-10-10 competition. This offers ten student filmmakers the change to create a ten minute film in ten days during the festival. There are many other aspects of this major event that continues to draw increasing numbers of participant entries and audience members every year.

Santa Barbara International Film Festival is a post from: LostHawk

Walking in Indianapolis

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:30:20 +0000

A walking tour of a new city is one of the best ways to get to know it. You start out in the morning, leaving your luxury hotel in Indianapolis, and there’s time, there’s a lot of time to do the things you promised yourself. When it’s just you alone in the city, there’s no one between you and the experience you’re having. You get used to traveling with people, so you have to put something between yourself and the moment, so you usually fill it up with all of your contexts. Getting to know a city is a way to get to know your own contexts.

You might start out by looking at the windows of coffee shops, to see what windows remind you of other places you’ve been. When you get comfortable, you might start to look in the windows, and eventually this will lead to choosing one. It might be the one that you love the most from your own city, or from another city you’ve been where you had a nice time and felt like you were able to relax. You’re in the cafe, then, and you decide to have what you usually do, except a little bit better, perhaps, and perhaps something sweet to eat, just because it’s a special occasion.

Already, by this time, you’ve begun to see faces in the city, and there’s a peculiar thing that happens in the new city. At first, you see people you think you know, but then after awhile you see people that resemble the people you know. The resemblances are not as coincidental or random as you might hope, and there’s an uncanny sense that these people are alternative versions of the people you know. While you’re having your coffee and someone is telling you about another coffee shop down the street that has art, you’re thinking that every city has alternative versions of your own life. As if you’re telling yourself that this is the life you would have here if you lived here. It’s making sense in a way that’s uncomfortable, because you suddenly realize that you’re plotting your next move in the world, and it might be here.

Walking in Indianapolis is a post from: LostHawk

Great Chicago Pizza at Connies

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:19:09 +0000

The day had finally arrived, Jen and Travis were going to go on their first date. They had been secretly eyeing each other for over six months when it was by chance that they happened to be at the same party and a mutual friend, Tina, ended up kind of forcing them together. It wasn’t anything overly romantic or exciting, there was just a small group of people talking about having just seen New Moon. Well, they were talking about a lot more than that. They were talking about the books and comparing it to the movie and talking about the various performances and then differences in the mediums. Travis is the one that brought up the subject by casually mentioning that he had just taken his little sister to see it at the AMC Loews on Michigan and was talking about what a rave everyone seemed to be making of it. He had never heard of it until his sister talked him into taking her and was amazed at how many people seemed to be obsessed with it.

Jen hadn’t seen the movie but she overheard part of the conversation and noticed the small gathering of people so she thought she could get closer to Travis and joined in, as an observer not participant. At one point it became clear that Jen and Travis where the only two who had never even heard of the book series or the movie. That’s when their friend Tina made such a todo about it and said they must be the only two people in the world that didn’t know about the Twilight Series and sarcastically told them they would have to get married because no one else would have them.

Well, due to the mutual, yet undeclared, feeling between them, that was enough to release them from the Twilight conversation and they started talking alone. Of course after a few minutes had gone by and they were still engaged in an intimate conversation, Tina shouted at them to get a room, which embarrassed the two so they stepped outside. By the end of the evening Travis had finally summed the courage to ask if Jen would like to get some pizza or something, that was all he could think of, the following weekend. As if it weren’t a kind of odd suggestion, Jen immediately said that it sounded great and then hoped she didn’t sound to eager. And so the following weekend arrived and Jen and Travis had their first date at Connie’s Pizza, which coincidentally happened to be their favorite. They shared an order of buffalo style Calamari and then a deep-dish bbq chicken pizza, which also happened to be both of their favorites. It was beginning to seem like maybe they were in fact made for each other.

Great Chicago Pizza at Connies is a post from: LostHawk

Celebrities and Reputation Management

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:51:59 +0000

Hollywood is full of late nights, wild parties, and more than a few illegal activities. And as always the tabloids are ever ready to catch young stars in the act of their latest indiscretion. As a result, it is a no brainer that they would most likely need some form of reputation management if they want to keep themselves in a job and out of jail. However, it is not just their acting or performing careers that are at risk. Many have created their own brands and companies that not only capitalize off of their stardom, but bring in additional income. They have lines of products and endorsements that could be lost in moments if their reputations were not properly managed, much like the recent case of Tiger Woods.

However not all celebrities are on the brink of collapse. Some, having set the limelight to the wayside, have become extremely successful business people. A primary example of this would be Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Their company, Dualstar Entertainment Group LLC., founded in 1993 has consistently appeared on Forbes Fortune 500 list. The twins have had phenomenal success with their movies, books, clothes, cosmetics, and toys. Using search engine optimization services, they have gained control of much of the tween market. Also, by staying out of the spot light and steering clear of the tabloids, they haven’t had to do much in regards to reputation management in recent years.

Guarding your reputation is something we must all keep in mind; whether we are an individual, a business owner, or a celebrity. The reputation that we have spent a lifetime to build can be destroyed in seconds with one careless act. By being mindful of our actions and prepared for the worst, we can preserve our reputations for long into the future.

Celebrities and Reputation Management is a post from: LostHawk

Mumbai’s Raghav Sachar

admin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:46:43 +0000

Mumbai is an endlessly fascinating place, that bears many repeated visits. Even day to day, or moment to moment, there is an enormous sense of flux and activity here, that makes this one of the most exciting places in the world. It’s the world’s largest city, with a bewildering array of sounds and sights, and it’s impossible to get to know in one visit, because there is so much here. The city has a fantastic energy, and like most cities of this magnitude, visiting here can be marvelous and also exhausting. It’s a great idea to give yourself the opportunity to rest in luxury. Mumbai hotels are splendidly equipped to offer a gorgeous sense of rejuvenation, offering rest and comfort night after night, to keep your energy up so that you can enjoy your adventures here.

If you’ve come to see ancient temples, spectacular coastlines, or to enjoy the latest in hip hop culture, it’s all here, and all available for your enjoyment. There are plenty of attractions to keep your days full and your nights exciting. It’s possible to come for a little bit of rest, enjoying the beach and the food, at a leisurely pace. It’s also possible to come with a full itinerary, and there are plenty of things to fill it. It’s a good idea, however, to always expect some changes, as your attention will very likely be caught by new and exciting things that you’d never expected. Like fascinating new works of contemporary performance, music, and dance.

You may have very well heard of Raghav Sachar, and if not, it’s a delight to get to know this talented musician. He’s still very young, and already has had four albums, which includes an album of devotional songs. He is a vocalist as well as the one who plays the instruments. But he really plays all the instruments. He has 31 in his repertoire, and was a bit of a child prodigy. He went to Melbourne University, where he started to really hone his contribution to world music by applying western techniques to Indian traditions, and now makes exciting remixes, and with his natural good looks, he is also a charming Bollywood actor.

Mumbai’s Raghav Sachar is a post from: LostHawk

A Medieval Portable Hot Tub?

admin — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:13:14 +0000

There are many benefits to having a hot tub in your own backyard. There is an obvious convenience, where you always have an excellent place to relieve stress and let the hot water and jets melt the stress off of your tired muscles. You can also throw parties with a fairly spontaneous ease, calling a few friends and taking the cover off – and maybe sparking up the grill. There are also numerous health benefits. Increased circulation is just one pleasant side effect to having a portable hot tub . It also helps the heart, by having physical effects on the body that mirror aerobics. Of course, there’s just the plain pleasure of water, which has attracted human beings since we began.

Our own bodily composition, being made of mostly water, is drawn to the water. It has a magnetic effect on us, and rewards us with an increased sense of relaxation and general wellness. There is a lot of evidence to support the notion that the human species has been drawn to the social pleasures of public baths for some time. It goes back for centuries, and even had a place in the center of culture in the Middle Ages. In the popular imagination, the Medieval times are not characterized by the cleanliness of the people, but usually its opposite. However, in the Middle Ages, public bath houses were actually quite common.

There is a good deal written, in fact, about the social rituals of the bath houses. Writers from the Middle Ages, such as Heinrich von Veldecke, wrote poetry devoted to courtly love with many mentions of the bath. In some of the more amusing texts, there are narratives about how people would gather for hours in the bath, where men would wear their finest wigs, and women wore new hats! It may not be something you’ll want to try in your hot tub, but it’s really rather thrilling to be enjoying the luxury of the spa, realizing you’re part of a long history of soaking in hot water and enjoying the company of good friends.

A Medieval Portable Hot Tub? is a post from: LostHawk