Features, FEB 06

AMERICA - The "I Love My Job" Lanyard
New Orleans, Louisiana
by RYAN JOE, columnist

On Decatur St, you can find a number of horse-drawn tours. They cost around 15 dollars per person, though the price is negotiable, especially for large groups. These tours take you throughout the French Quarter, and I've heard it said that the way they operate is that the drivers simply point out every other house and say, "You see that? It's haunted." And then they pause while everyone takes out their little camera-phones.

blogEXCLUSIVE, FEB 06

A ship loaded with desire
by SIMONE KUSSATZ, senior global correspondent
[photographs by SIMONE KUSSATZ]

I wish you would
change your mind,
to get a break from
the pain traveling
through my flesh
and soul

I wish you would
change your mind
so that my hopes
were not dashed
like the waves breaking
on the rocks at Monterey

I wish you would
change your mind, to
listen to the sound of
cosmic bells and
take another dance
in the moonshine

And yet, I seem to drown
in my whirl of whishes,
gazing at the stars,
comforting my soul
thinking unfilled wishes
make space for new ones to come

So I change my mind and
remain at the bay
looking through
my telescope for a new
ship loaded
with desire

Exclusives, DEC 05

SUSILOWATI – Dancing in the Margins Festival 2005
The space between the pages of ‘ethnic and not ethnic enough’
by KATHERINE PARADERO, editor-in-chief

Attending the opening night of Sri Susilowati’s Dancing in the Margins Festival doesn’t feel like a typical Friday night in North Hollywood.

Two minutes before curtain, warm greetings are still being exchanged among family members, friends, and performers about to hurry backstage.

Every seat that is filled is a direct personal connection to the performers, the producers, the cause, and the message. For every person seated, and for every person waiting in the wings, there was I’m sure, at least one particular face and one particular story that had brought them each to this place on this night.



KRAUSS - "The History of Love"
An exploration of love, literature, and the immigrant experience.
by SIMONE KUSSATZ, senior global correspondent

With so many books produced every month, how does one decide which novel is worthwhile reading?

A graduate from Stanford, Oxford, and the Courtauld Institute in London, Krauss read from “The History of Love” on October 22, 2005 at the American Academy in Berlin, where I had a chance to meet her in person.

Pregnant, and expecting her first child, Krauss stood before her audience at the American Academy in Berlin. With her parents seated at the forefront, she explained why she had written the “History of Love.”

Cover, NOV 05

by AMY CHOU, cover artist.

Exclusives, NOV 05

PATERSON - An American in Berlin
Our exclusive interview with the director of Berlin's 'CABARET'
by SIMONE KUSSATZ, special guest writer

Well. It wasn't my decision. It was the decision of the producers. It was their idea. They approached me. But I was enthusiastic about the project from the start. First, I always wanted to be in Berlin. Second, when I walked into the “Bar Jeder-Vernunft,” I was fascinated, and thought [that] this [would totally be] the place for CABARET. And third, I don't get involved with many musicals, except for the ones with deeper messages and [have] a darker edge to them, so "Cabaret" was something that intrigued me greatly.



BEN-HUR - The Creation of Art as a Mosaic of Methods
An interview with Israeli artist Daniel Ben-Hur
by Simone Kussatz, special guest writer

I then came across an ancient mystic and Kabbalah teacher by the name Abulafia. He lived about 700 years ago in the 14th century. He told his students to sit on the floor and to start thinking, however not in words, but letters. It could be one letter, or several, as long as they didn’t build a word. This seemed like meditation to me. He got back to the source of things, because before any word, any thought, or any theory could be established, there were only letters.



GERMANY – It’s the World’s Largest Pumpkin Exhibit!
Not in America . . . but in Ludwigsburg
by Simone Kussatz, special guest writer

Jucker was right, I had never seen wood-crafted cows, sheep, wagons, pigs, goats, oxen, or even a tractor (a Lanz Bulldog) decorated with pumpkins. What I had learned about Halloween and the pumpkin time in America was that one dressed up and went for a trick-or-treat.

Here, however, I had come across a pumpkin spectacle to an extent that I had no idea even existed. The menus were filled with everything from pumpkin sparkling wine to pumpkin jam, pumpkin noodles to pumpkin mustard, and the tables, likewise, were filled with people eating and drinking.

Features, NOV 05

AMERICA - Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville
New Orleans, Louisiana
by RYAN JOE, columnist

He said, Damn, I shouldn't've come from Pittsburgh. Now I have to get enough money to make my way back home to Santa Cruz.

So that explained it. I hear Santa Cruz is notorious for drugs. Like you don't have to buy it there so much as pluck the junk ethereally out of the air. I wasn't sure why he told me this, though. I felt as if he wanted me to invite him in, offer him the bathroom as a safe harbor in which he could shoot up and vomit.

I closed the door and kept watch until he left. My roommate told me later, "If I'm sitting outside and I see someone coming down the street with crazy in their eyes, white or black, I just go back in. And if you see them loitering outside, you just have to use profanity. Tell them to get the fuck up and fucking walk. There was a guy who used to go through the trash, but he's gone for now. Man, I really wish we had a balcony."

Cover, OCT 2005

by AMY CHOU, cover artist

Exclusives, OCT 05

SOMMER - An Evening With German-Born Actress Elke Sommer
by SIMONE KUSSATZ, staff writer

"Back in Germany, I received a phone call from Hollywood one day and was asked "Would you like to star in a picture with Paul Newman?"

Sommer's role in "The Prize (1963)" not only brought her international recognition, but also a long-term friendship with Paul Newman who is "a great person," she said. Among other features, Elke Sommer performed in "A Shot in the Dark (1964)," "Did I get the wrong number (1967)," "The Wrecking Crew (1969)," as well as "Severed Ties (1992)."

She has worked with national and international stars, including Hannelore Elsner, Senta Berger, Curt Juergens, Gina Lollobridgida, Joseph Cotton, Dean Martin and Bob Hope.



CARDINALE - Tunis-born Actress attends screening of
Luchini Viscontia's 'Sandra'(Vaghe Stelle Dell'Orsa, 1965)
by SIMONE KUSSATZ, staff writer

For someone like Ms. Cardinale who said that she was very introverted in her early years and refused to accept film roles, "when Omar Sharif asked me if I wanted to play in a film with him, I thought he was crazy," her life seemed to have undergone a metamorphosis when she turned into one of the most remarkable European actresses, a considerable Hollywood-actress and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, helping women to improve their lives by standing up for their rights.

Having played in numerous Hollywood movies, including THE PINK PANTHER (1963) CIRCUS WORLD (1964), BLINDFOLD (1965) LOST COMMAND (1966), THE PROFESSIONALS (1966), ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST (1968), THE RED TENT (1971), ESCAPE TO ATHENA (1979), FITZCARRALDO (1982), A MAN IN LOVE (1987) Cardinale said that one has to be very strong as an actress.

"It was intimidating playing with actors such as Lancaster, Delon, Hudson, Henry Fonda, Bronson and David Niven. It was he who told her once: "After Spaghetti, you are the best Italian invention."



PULLEN - Criticizing the Glamourization and Exploitation of Crime in American Culture
An exclusive interview with the artist.
by SIMONE KUSSATZ, special guest writer

People a lot of the time assume that to create a great movie or still photograph that involves big sets and crews -- that it takes a million dollars, which is just not true. You can make it happen for very little if you have the determination. I think it takes professionalism and drive.

Everyone came on board working on the project for the experience… That’s the great thing about creating art, movies etc. If you’re working on a cool project and don’t have much funding -- people love to contribute. It’s not about the money… it’s about the experience of making something.

I was really lucky -- great people came on board and really made it possible. I worked with the stunt crews from movies and shows like “Kill Bill” and “CSI”, fashion models from large campaigns like Guess to big runway models, there were dedicated students that wanted experience.

There really was never a shortage of great people around completely driven and making it happen.



ROBINSON - Artistry and a Man in Orbit
Interview with an astronaut.
by SIMONE KUSSATZ, special guest writer

Q: Do you have a favorite photograph taken during your trip to orbit?
A: We took several thousands. There is a picture of orbit on earth with thunderstorms at the terminator, the region between light and dark on the earth. The sun is very low on the horizon. The thunderstorms are casting shadows 200 miles long.

Q: What makes the colors in orbit different from the colors on earth, and what’s your favorite one?
A: The colors in orbit are always bright and intense, much more so than on earth. The various shades of blue are probably my favorite, especially at the edge of the atmosphere. The blue is illuminated and transparent. It changes all the time against the deepest black of space.

Features, OCT 05

AMERICA - Exploring A Third World
New Orleans, Louisiana
by RYAN JOE, columnist


The local Six Flags amusement park, family fun, roller coasters, and cotton candy, is also host to constant gang warfare. People just get murdered left and right there. The whole city is basically a carnival gone horribly wrong.

And even from above, looking down from a plane, the place is weird. I remember seeing this huge body of water, like a great brown sea, surrounded by this steaming green mass of foliage. A thin strip of pavement traversed the lake. The sun was setting. You get the picture.

As an example of how odd this place is, until recently, if there were three people driving in a car, up to two open containers of alcohol were allowed. The overriding logic being that at least one person might still be sober.

Another one: New Orleans gave the world the daiquiri. New Orleans also has daiquiri drive-thrus. The law stipulates that if you get pulled-over and have a daiquiri in the car, you just better not have a straw in it. I cannot make this up.