Two of my most favorite artists ever, Eiko Ishioka (Dracula, The Cell, Beijing Olympics and oh! so much more) and Julie Taymor (Lion King, Titus) have ganged up to produce the ubernerdy Turn off the Dark, a singing, dancing Broadway show based on Spider-Man. To all my geeky girls who played Street Fighter and loved Les Miserables, this is the one for us. Oh yeah, Bono...

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Lanvin expertise with H&M for the fall capsule collection... "In the end, you really only have what you give away." --Alber Elbaz, December Vogue 2010 ...

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Hong Sang-soo is at it again with Ha, Ha, Ha, a totally hilarious and bitterly pathetic portrait of masculine inadequacy. ...

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In honor of At the Movies, reviews by A.O. Scott and Michael Phillips of the new Disney film Tangled. I began this movie with trepidation - Why such liberties with the Rapunzel story? Why so much cheeky modern flourishing and implied sarcasm. Is this Shrek in disguise? Princess and the Frog scatterlogic narrative? Why is the film not called Rapunzel? Oh! No! However... The humor...

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 This place in Burlingame is alright. I prefer the cupcake bakery in San Carlos or Kara's.  Some kind of whoopie pie. Cupcakes of forgotten type. ...

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Insight, uncovered through solid research and exposed by accessible prose, is what this collection has to offer. Familiar institutions suddenly shed their formidable monumentalness, instead they are revealed as a series of individual tics and half rationalized compromises. Gladwell tends to construct these narratives laterally, first stepping in one room and then a different one and yet another, before finally linking them together as incontrovertible evidence....

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Deadly apropos reality TV Sci-Fi satire with a fun, absurdist twist at the end. Directed by Elio Petri, whose work is really worth unearthing, the film is  based on Robert Sheckley's short story, The Seventh Victim, but was later novelized as The 10th Victim. Echoes of the assassin game can be found in Alistair Reynolds novel, Revelation Space, but with much less wit...

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Recently, The Textile Arts Council of the De Young museum hosted a lecture on Madame Vionnet by Sandra Ericcson, The Center for Pattern Design. The free event was an opportunity to learn some cutting and fitting techniques, but also to view construction details up close and personal. Well worth the trip. I'm not going into a lot of detail here about history and context, but...

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Perfect instructions from Simply Recipes with helpful tips from David Lebovitz. Perfect instructions from Simply Recipes with helpful tips from David Lebovitz. ...

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This recipe needs a little work. So far... 2 cups flour 2 1/4 cups rolled oats 1 1/2 cups brown sugar 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 3/4 cups softened butter 6 oz chocolate chips or chunks1/2 cup chopped nuts1 cup caramel sauce Mix together dry ingredients than add butter till moistened and comes together slightly. Lightly press half of the...

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Season Two = industry realistic format of teamed contestants, longer workroom times, Mizrahi firing out sharp short critiques, very specific design challenges, and Iman = My favorite new/original Project Runway Season Two = industry realistic format of teamed contestants, longer workroom times, Mizrahi firing out sharp short critiques, very specific design challenges, and Iman = My favorite new/original Project Runway ...

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"I cannot conceive of a god who rewards and punishes his creatures or has a will of the kind we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egotism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and...

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Chorizo and Chickpeas Mark Bittman's chorizo and kale recipe is one of my favorites. This is a take on a recipe in the New Tapas book which uses blood sausage and pine nuts. Here we have chorizo, bell peppers, raisins, chickpeas and almonds.  Mushroom Custard Deconstructed frittata. I based the custard and oven cooking method from the recipe in Shimbo book, but added...

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