December 20, 2010
Yalda Festival, Iran, December 21
This traditional Iranian festival takes place on the longest night of the calendar year, and began as a symbol of the battle between good and evil over 5,000 years ago. The winter solstice is also called Shab-e yalda”or rebirth of the sun. After the long night, the Zoroastrian God Ahoura Mazda (light) defeats the devil Ahriman (a representation of the darkness). This gives way to much celebration and happiness for the return of the sun, and Iranians now celebrate with bonfires at night”to help the sun battle against the darkness”and feasts of fruits and pastries.
E! True Hollywood Story: Sarah, Duchess of York, E!, December 21 at 10pm
Merry Christmas to the Royal Family’s biggest trainwreck! Poor Fergie now has the honor of a definitive guide to her missteps in the spotlight”from the toe-sucking incident so long ago to her most recent pay-for-access scandal that saw the drunk and slurring Duchess offer a News of the World reporter a meeting with her ex-husband, Prince Andrew. There’s plenty of dirt to be dished”the Royal Editor of the Brit tabloid shares his thoughts, and Fergie’s former financial advisor is also on hand to discuss how she blew through her money. Not exactly an uplifting hour, but delicious fun nonetheless.
Hyperlinks: Architecture and Design, Art Institute of Chicago, Now “ July 20, 2011
The Windy City’s art haven is home to one of the largest spaces dedicated to architecture, and a new exhibition is marrying the worlds of technology with that of innovative design. Thirty new and highly varied projects are now on display”from the social mapping project Walkingpapers.org to a futuristic film subtitled “Domestic Robocop””and aim to paint a broad new portrait of the relationship, or “hyperlinking” between design, science, transportation, and more. One of the coolest pieces that you could soon see coming to your own neighborhood is LightLane, which fastens to the back of a bike and creates a digital outline of a bike lane behind its rider. Safety and creativity”we”re in.
Easy A
It’s easy to dismiss this romantic comedy as just for teens seeing as plenty of people did when it was first released. But now the high school-set film is getting some extra notice. Its young star Emma Stone nabbed a Golden Globe nomination for her portrayal of Olive, a girl who pretended to have sex with her gay best friend Brandon so he would stop getting picked on, but then gets caught up in a Scarlett Letter-esque scandal. Stone’s immensely charming both onscreen and off (upon hearing she was nominated alongside Angelina Jolie and Anne Hathaway, she says she “lost her shit”) and the 22-year-old is also starring in the upcoming Spider-Man reboot. Catch Easy A on DVD this Tuesday, and when Stone hits the A-list, brag that you knew the sweetly conniving star back in high school.
True Grit
Joel and Ethan Coen, the brainy duo behind No Country for Old Men and, yes, The Big Lebowski, have headed to the Wild Wild West for their latest outing. They”re making a big fuss in film circles by claiming they never got around to watching John Wayne’s 1969 version of the film”blasphemous words for diehard Western fans. This Josh Brolin and Matt Damon vehicle, in theaters Wednesday, instead takes all its cues from the 1968 Charles Portis novel, infusing it with that signature Coen Bros dark humor. Damon’s right at home galloping around as a Texas Ranger, and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld shines as the young protagonist who wants retribution for her father’s murder. Finally, after soppy rom-coms and indies, a true contender for Oscar rears its head late in the game.
