After word came that director Sam Raimi was out for the fourth installment of the Spider-Man film franchise, all talks turned to who would be in. And the name that dropped this week in the pages of the Hollywood Reporter was not what many expected. Young auteur Marc Webb, whose twee Sundance hit (500) Days of Summer was the toast of last summer. MTV is on the case about Webb’s big break and reports that the director may use many of the “Ultimate Spider-Man” comic-book storylines to inspire his new installment, and that he will be casting unknowns in the major roles (so goodbye, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst).
Martial Trezzini, Keystone / AP Photo
Everything is still a mess, sure. But at least Conan O’Brien and NBC finally worked out the details of their expensive divorce. And his premature farewell tour continued to boost ratings for his Tonight Show by bashing the hell out of the network, with comments like, “I never thought I’d be jealous of the long, illustrious run that NBC gave Joey,” and “I’ve been having a hard time explaining this whole situation to my kids—because they’re still very young. So I had a doll made of myself—and now I can show my kids exactly where NBC touched Daddy.”
AP Photos
This week brought some sad losses for the culture world, including folk singer Kate McGarrigle and Love Story author Erich Segal. Also from the literary world, we lost mystery novelist Robert Parker, who passed away Monday in Cambridge, Mass. Parker wrote more 60 books, 40 of which featured Parker’s most famous character, the hard-talking Bostonian private eye Spenser. He won two Edgar Awards in his lifetime, the highest achievement for mystery writers, though he didn’t even begin to write the Spenser novels until he was 27, and had already completed a military tour in Korea and a Ph.D. It’s never too late to become a legend.
Robin Platzer, Twin Images, Time Life Pictures / Getty Images
Paris menswear is back: Louis Vuitton and Jean-Paul Gaultier showed Fall 2010 collections there this week, in addition to other designers, including Japan’s Issey Miyake and Belgium’s Dries Van Noten. At Vuitton, Paul Helbers said that he was inspired by turn-of-the-century Vienna for the inspiration for a line that included classic designs that mixed staples such as cashmere and leather with high-tech fabrics like microfiber. Celebrity attendees included Kanye West and girlfriend Amber Rose, who arrived in matching floor-length fur coats. Gaultier’s show was even more surprising, as the designer sent models down the runway in boxing-inspired looks, complete with fake blood and Everlast gloves. And for his final bow, the designer even trotted out bloodied and battered himself—wearing a robe and towel. Adam Kimmel's show, meanwhile, got freaky: Models were dressed as gamblers, with horrifying masks of demented clowns (inspired by George Condo’s paintings). Kimmel’s strappings included lush velvet double-breasted blazers, bowties, vests, and capes.
Karl Prouse, Catwalking / Getty Images
If the awards shows are truly going to begin adopting 3-D television technology, it makes sense that the first foray is going to be the upcoming Grammy Awards (Jan 31), in a loving tribute to Michael Jackson. Anyone who was a child (or parent) of the ‘80s will remember the trippy Jackson 3-D adventure Captain EO that played at Disney's themeparks. The Grammys’ 3-D event won’t be that large scale (or retro), but rather a special image of Jackson projected singing “Earth Song,” which is, as Vulture notes, “appropriately in these post- Avatar times, a 3-D call to arms for the preservation of the environment.” In addition, Usher, Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, and Smokey Robinson will sing along while Jackson’s image performs. It’s all very important. But you can’t really appreciate it unless you get to a Target store before the 31st to pick up your complimentary glasses.
Rusty Kennedy / AP Photo
This week, as The New York Times’ Alex Wright reports, the trend of citizen curators on the Web has hit fever pitch. The Web site for the National September 11 Museum, MakeHistory.com, which launched last fall, now has more than 3,000 photographs submitted by users for potential use in the museum. Other initiatives, like the Virtual Shtetl Project (sztetl.org), and the Smithsonian’s Flickr Group, Fill the Gap, are showing serious promise. This is not such a shocker for the tech world—user-generated content has been ruling the Web for years—but for the slow-moving art world, it is a major development.
Hope she has a new way to pay for her plastic surgery: Heidi Montag’s album, Superficial, sold less than 1,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen Soundscan. Industry sources tell Us that it’s sold only 658 downloads to date. Last week, Montag told Entertainment Weekly that “within the first week, we will definitely make our money back.…I put every dollar I have into this. I've spent over $1 million, almost $2 million, on this album. It's cost as much or more than a Britney Spears album because I wanted it to be that quality....The songs will make an impact in pop history.” Maybe next time…
Jennifer Graylock / AP Photo
The cool kids in the music world this week are salivating over the recently released lineup for the Coachella Festival (the annual indie rock summit held appropriately enough in Indio, California). The usual suspects are there—Grizzly Bear, Jay-Z, Vampire Weekend, Dirty Projectors—and then there were some unexpected names like Grace Jones, Devo, and Sly and the Family Stone. But perhaps the oddest additions to this year’s roster are Hairspray director John Waters and children’s television personality, DJ Lance Rock of Yo! Gabba Gabba. But we’re sensing that if music lovers are willing to spend hundreds of dollars to camp out in the desert, they just might be the types to also be entertained by the kooky Waters and the musical stylings of a Nick. Jr hand puppet.
Stefanie Keenan, WireImage / Getty Images; Rob Loud / Getty Images
