Bowie Beauty Break & "Lazarus" Farewell

Pt 1 Bowie & Velvet Goldmine
Pt 2 Curio Finale
Pt 3 Beauty Break

A picture released by the family last week to accompany their announcement that they will be having a private ceremony. They are overwhelmed by the public outpouring of love but wanted to remind everyone that they welcome all the tributes and celebrations (as people see fit) but they are not officially endorsed or organized by the family.

Have you been listening to David Bowie for a week solid now? If you haven't we forgive you. Where even to start with that discography?  Bowie loomed so large in music and cultural history that we needed more time to process, so a week later here's the final piece of our goodbye -  a beauty break to think of him more visually instead... or at least to give you visual accompaniment to go along with your playlists elsewhere.

Musicians have been catching the acting bug since the movies began to wildly varying degrees of success. Some that showed early promise simply didn't care enough to continue doing it (Annie Lennox, Björk, Courtney Love, Tina Turner), others who seemed to want it badly, didn't really have the gift for it (Madonna, Prince), a few have been successful at it despite not being "good" at it (Elvis). There are other musician/actors on whom the jury is still out of course (Justin Timberlake/Lady Gaga). And then there have been people like Cher who were so good at acting that people eventually or temporarily forgot they were musicians. Finally there's David Bowie, our subject today, who occupies the odd ground of being of the cinema but also quite apart from it. (Are there other musicians who have had a similar relationship to the movies -- maybe Sting?)

After the jump, a visual tour of his filmography...

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Curio: Bowie Forever

Pt 1 Goodbye to Bowie via Velvet Goldmine
Pt 2 Goodbye to Bowie....and Curio, for now

Alexa here, still reeling over the loss of David Bowie. It really took the steam out of me today, as I'm sure it did a lot of you.  He was such a touchstone that it felt as if he would never die. But he lives on as inspiration.

And so too might Curio. I hope it does. If not in this exact form. This weekly arts & crafts series, which Nathaniel invited me to do years ago, has had a long run at TFE but I must move on for 2016. (Parenthood really alters the life of a cinephile.)

But back to Bowie. I've been enjoying seeing some of this inspiration filtered through the minds of others, so here are a few some beautiful and fun curios -- everything from a career spanning animated gif, to realistic dolls, and more traditional fan art.

Celebrate the icon with wide eyes after the jump... 

 

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David Bowie (1947-2016) and a little Velvet Goldmine (1998)

Pt 1 Goodbye to Bowie

One of the most influential artists of the 20th century lost a long battle with cancer in the wee hours of the night as Golden Globe parties were still going, a sobering end to a frivolous evening.

Though it's perhaps inappropriate given Bowie's towering iconicity in pop culture, I couldn't help thinking of Todd Haynes when I heard the news. More...

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I Link You and Link You and Link You

You Should Be in Sweden attends the Stanley Kubrick exhibit at LACMA. It ends in June so go see it!
JazzT here's another enticing image from the exhibit. Oh Nicole. Any mask you'd like me to wear is fine
Pitchfork Another new David Bowie video starring an Oscar winning actress. Marion Cotillard instead of Tilda this time 
Mother Jones a 17 year old coder invents a program to block spoilers on Twitter
NY Post Producer Scott Rudin lashes back at NYT critic. These stories always embarrass me for the showbiz people - (remember when James Cameron wanted someone fired for the thumbs down on Titanic?). Being criticized is just part of show business. You always look silly when you freak out about it. It's an honor to be so well employed / watched that you are even susceptible to bad reviews, don'cha think? 

Empire Dominic Cooper joins the cast of the new Dracula starring MNPP's favorite punching bag lust object Noted Homosexual Luke Evans. I'd be excited for this since I like looking at both of them but I'm so worn out on vampires. Which I never thought I'd say but here we are post the Aughts when vampires are more ubiquitous than they've ever been as if they're still trying to wrestle back the Ubiquity Crown from the hordes of brain-dead zombies who don't even know that they won some pop culture battle.
Electric has an infographic comparing The Great Gatsby to the wealth of the stars of the movie
Pajiba on Netflix's current strengths and weaknesses as it attempts to become both a distribution platform and a content creator 
Observations on Film Art Kristin wonders whether or not studios understand the power of fanbases and direct access to filmmakers they can get via Twitter and set visits and the like
In Contention Ben Affleck's follow up to Argo doesn't betray any steroided auteurly confidence. It's just another Denis Lehane adaptation of the novel "Live By Night". It's almost like something he woulda signed on for before Argo.
MNPP Today's mood via Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable 

Oh and Also... James McAvoy on the set of X-Men Days of Future Past via Bryan Singer's active picture-snapping Twitter account. He tweeted this one with a Pacino-style "Serpico!" descriptor. When last we left the X-Men they were in the swinging sixties and Professor X had just been paralyzed and hate yet to go bald. Here we are in the seventies I suppose though it's probably not worth getting hung up on time periods since Days of Future Past (one of the great X-men arcs) is all about messing with them.

poll by twiigs.com

P.S.
And if you still can't get enough of our "Greatest Best Actress Losers" poll, check it out: Tim, Michael and Glenn shared their individual ballots on their fine blogs Antagony & Ecstasy, Serious Film and Stale Popcorn.

The Links (Are Out Today)

These Links Have Little Do With Oscars.
Woot! We're (almost) clear!
Movie|Line the new Spider-Man suit. Try to contain your excitement that it's the same as the old one with bigger eyes. 
Stale Popcorn the week in Kidmania. (It's so gratifying to enjoy Nicole Kidman with the whole world again.)
Salon a mash note to Bailey Buntainn (the mini Megan-Hilty) on the increasingly stellar Bunheads 
/Film The Coen Bros rewriting Unbroken for Angelina Jolie to direct. Whoa. Smart movie Angelina.
Coming Soon James McAvoy make take on the remake of The Crow... although given the concept of The Crow I fail to see why it needs a remake OR a reboot. The idea is that the crow moves on to a new fresh corpse once you've had your vengeance.

Oscar Leftovers
TMZ Quvenzhané Wallis causes an explosion in puppy purse sales (Courtney isn't the only girl that got excited about them.)
HuffPo a producer of the Oscar winning short Paperman kicked out of the Dolby for throwing paper airplanes on Oscar night! 
The Verge Oscar winning doc short Inocente is the first Oscar winner funded by Kickstarter. Methinks it won't be the last 
IndieWire behind the current vfx problem in Hollywood. What the Life of Pi winner was talking about before the orchestra drowned him out.  
Towleroad was "amazing" the most overused word at the Oscars? 

Oscar Commercials?
I hadn't even thought of this as a topic but two of my friends had something to say...
Kari Artwork did his own zombie unicorn painting inspire that Tim Burton Samsung ad? 
Tribeca Film Joe Reid on the movie-star commercials that aired during the program 

Today's Must Watch
David Bowie recruits one of his modern day descendants Tilda Swinton for his new music video. YESSSSSSSSSSSSS 

For her next art project I would like Tilda Swinton to star as David Bowie and remake all of his music videos.