TresSugar

Oh Snap! Beatlemania Invades Abbey Road

TresSugar — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 18:24:15 -0700

It was 20 40 years ago today when the Beatles sauntered across a crosswalk on Abbey Road to shoot one of the most iconic album covers of all time. Today in London, fans flocked to the famous intersection to celebrate the anniversary. A Beatles tribute band mingled with throngs of Beatlemaniacs, who posed for photos and signed the wall of Abbey Road studios. Check out the crazy gallery below.

View 6 Photos ›

Live Art Lights Up London

TresSugar — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:00:41 -0700

Today "One & Other" - a living monument in Trafalgar Square, London - kicked off. Sculptor Anthony Gormley invited everyday people to occupy the empty Fourth Plinth in the square, a location usually reserved for statues of kings and generals. For 24 hours a day, for 100 days straight, different people will stand on the Plinth for an hour each in an image of themselves or as a representation of all of humanity.

The artist said: "this elevation of everyday life to the position formerly occupied by monumental art allows us to reflect on the diversity, vulnerability and particularity of the individual in contemporary society. It could be tragic but it could also be funny."

The first of the participants, who were chosen by random, took turns at the post today. Check out some of the living art!

View Slideshow ›

Call Girl Business Cards Get Their Own Art Exhibit

TresSugar — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Wallpaper magazine has dedicated its July issue to sex and art - two things we love at Très. Tart cards, with their clever fonts and splashy colors, especially caught my eye.
Tart cards are basically business cards for sex. For years they've lurked in London's red phone booths, explicitly advertising services and creating a cult following with their ingenuity. Now as the Internet and cell phones threaten their existence, they're no longer just accidental art but worthy of an exhibit in their honor.

Wallpaper, along with St Bride Library and Type, asked designers to dream up their own tart cards for an exhibit displaying at London's KK Outlet from June 22-29. They may not be the real cards, but seeing the concept elevated to an art form confirms their lasting impression.

Want to see real tart cards from the early '90s? Check out the gallery below.

View 10 Photos ›

Source

Oh, Snap! Tickling the Ivories on London Streets

TresSugar — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0700

29 pianos, customized individually by artists, have been placed around London landmarks for the public. Signs that say "Play me. I'm yours!" invite closet musicians to let loose. Fun!

View 4 Photos ›

Source

Picture It: London Flowers Popping Up, Popping Up

CitizenSugar — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:00:12 -0700

Londoners enjoy the warm weather in St. James' Park. Today was the warmest day so far this year in the English capital. Hello Spring!

Source

Briefing Book! Atheist Bus Ads Roll in London Today

LibertySugar — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 12:30:07 -0800

Religion: Eight-hundred buses with atheist ads, which were funded by a special campaign, hit the streets in London today. - Boing Boing
Colbert & Colmes: Alan Colmes joined Stephen Colbert and guest-hosted the Colbert Report, Monday night. The two took on the Roland Burris appointment. - Huffingtion Post
Assassination Risk: Ann Coulter told CBS that George Bush is at a greater risk of assassination than Barack Obama.- 23/6
House: Seven habits of highly effective freshmen. - Politico
Anti-green: The mechanical art of destroying the rain forest. - Good

London Opera Gimmick to Bring Culture to Tabloid Masses

CitizenSugar — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:15:15 -0700

For a publicity stunt at London's Royal Opera House, the controversy may not be over 'til that fat lady, you know whats. It's elite vs. lowbrow, and it's hard to see who's in the right.

Here's the gimmick: the opera house limited tickets to a prestigious premiere to readers of The Sun, a tabloid newspaper, in a bid to attract a more diverse audience and upset the image that the opera is just for the elite. Ticket prices for good seats usually run $400 (that's a high note!) so the Sun deal reserves all 2,200 seats for readers at prices from $15 to $60. The head of the opera says, "we have so many opportunities to open up our doors to more people and I'm thrilled that we're able to invite those who have never been to the Opera House before to experience a first-night performance."

Nice right? Who can find fault with that? To find out, read more.

The deputy editor of Opera magazine for one, who said, "the ticket deal will put the backs up of a lot of the loyal audiences who already have to jump through a lot of hoops to get tickets." More local reactions to the story say that it's all well and good to market the high arts to the "common masses" especially since the arts, including opera, was originally meant for everyone. The blunter reactions accuse the masses of having "no interest" in such high-minded pursuits. So the elite don't want to share - therefore the opera is doing a righteous thing, right?

But what about this? By targeting the deal to readers of a tabloid paper with the giveaway, isn't the opera reinforcing a stereotype? That if you read this paper, certainly you can't afford to, nor have you ever been to something so fancy. Here, we'll even give a discount to you so you can finally see what you've been missing. A little backhanded, perhaps?

Is this a great idea, or are they being unintentionally elitist by trying to be inclusive?

Source

Britain's Libel Laws Take Piss Out of Freedom of the Press?

CitizenSugar — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:45:37 -0700

Are the British aiming to squash free speech? Robert Murat, an official suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, has settled his libel case against several British newspapers for overconnecting him to her disappearance with headlines like "Sex Secret of Madeleine Suspect: Briton ‘Shared’ the Wife of Pool Cleaner at Villa." His pay out is thought to be close to $1 million. Murat lived close to location where Madeleine disappeared and was named the first formal suspect though he's denied any involvement in her disappearance last May.

Some consider the decision great.

Murat was libelled. Not once, but many times over. Scores of reports, and many headlines too, defamed him . . . he was often treated not as a suspect by papers but as a culprit . . . papers have been pushing at the boundaries of the British contempt rule for years. More is published about British crime suspects in advance of their being charged (and sometimes afterwards) than was ever the case 20 years ago. Why? Because they have got away with it.

Seems reasonable right? Accuse a guy of killing a little girl in the papers, pay a fine? Well, this free speech and freedom of the press issue doesn't stay on UK soil - British libel laws have a passport. To see how, read more.

Here's the other side of the coin:

Perhaps you don't live in England or Wales, so you think this has nothing to do with you. You're wrong. English libel law now applies to everyone on earth. Make any accusation, anywhere in the world, and if the subject can demonstrate that a single person in England or Wales has read it, you could be sued for every penny, cent, rouble, rupee, or renminbi you possess. The Internet and the global nature of publishing ensure that these medieval laws have become the most powerful extraterritorial legislation ever drafted.

Even Sens. Joe Lieberman and Arlen Specter voiced concern over the reach of the libel grab in the WSJ, saying: "Individuals with alleged connections to terrorist activity are filing libel suits and winning judgments in foreign courts against American researchers who publish on these matters."

Maybe Richard Jewel would have had something to say on the matter? Where's the line between libel and freedom of the press?

Source

US Officials Drive and Ditch in London Leaving $4.7 Million Tab

LibertySugar — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:10 -0700

A current diplomatic showdown between the US and its motherland involves $4.7 million of unpaid fines US diplomats owe for refusing to pay London's traffic congestion charge.

So what are the transatlantic positions? The US calls the £8 per day charge to enter the city a tax. Therefore, tax-exempt foreign service officers need not pay. The UK sees the charge as service fee, not a tax. In 2006, London's mayor called the US ambassador a "chiseling little crook" for evading the charge. Other countries share the US position, and Russia and Japan owe millions too, according to Bloomberg.

London also has to swallow the pain of more serious diplomatic offenses. In 2007, 20 serious crimes (think assault, drinking and driving, or robbery), attributed to foreign diplomats, went unpunished thanks to diplomatic immunity.

I wonder if the US will try to get foreign diplomats headed below 60th street to pay the New York City congestion charge that goes into effect next March! Should the diplomats pay up like everyone else in London?

Source

London Underground's Boozy Last Call Closes Six Stations

CitizenSugar — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:00:52 -0700

Pick your train: the Soul Train, the Crazy Train, or the gravy train, whichever you hop it would have to be a more sober journey than the London Underground saw Saturday night when a big group of booze-hounds reveled out of control celebrating the last night of legal drinking on the tube, the night before the beginning of Boris Johnson's ban on carrying or drinking from open containers of alcohol.

Police arrested 17 people for a host of drunken transgressions and closed six Underground stations. Four train drivers and three other staffers were assaulted, with another 50 further verbally abused or spat at.

View 5 Photos ›

First was the fun, then came the puking, public urination, and - perhaps a first for train travel - beer bongs aplenty. One photographer said of the scene, "At first the atmosphere was happy but anarchic. Then a fight broke out between about five people but because we were so tightly packed it soon spread through the carriage."

A policeman said, "Saturday night's event showed the negative impact of alcohol and we took action to arrest those whose behaviour was disorderly and criminal." Did this celebration end up making a bigger case for the need for the ban - or does the very act of outlawing something make it more likely to cause trouble?

Source