Janelle Monáe

The Arch-Android was in town last Saturday night headlining the Indies Music Awards, "the Grammy's of the indie scene" that is part of the Canadian Music Week, a music convention in Toronto. I thought the award celebrated independent music talent in Canada, so getting a Kansas City girl to headline it seems like an odd choice, but I'm not complaining.

It’s like she came straight from the land of Oz, by the way of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. With a sound that transcends and mixes funk, punk, pop, rock, rap, r&b and even country (!) Janelle has the imagination and the flair for drama that makes her music translate perfectly to the stage and the live act.
This and the fact that she’s cute as a button, reminiscent of a young Lena Horne (“big mouth, big voice”) and with a boundless energy and consummate showwomanship.
Her antics included having dancers dressed as nuns, painting on stage, and reenacting Eyes Wide Shut. She sang while collapsed on the floor and, in the end, threw on a cape à la James Brown.
At the end, after a triumphal concert in the Royal York Hotel and with her pompadour a little out of whack, Janelle didn’t hesitate and went crowd surfing, while looking totally terrified/elated. This one’s got the goods.

Tata Pixel

Finally a car I would really like to have. I'm just not sure how to open the doors in a place with low ceilings...

Super fashion

Some more of the superhero-inspired fashions at the New York Fashion Week.

WW

Is it just me or is Wonder Woman everywhere these days? Even at the mall: she just released a makeup line for MAC. When does she find time to save the world? (Drawings courtesy of the great Mike Allred.)

New t-shirts and fashion shows at the New York Fashion Week borrowed heavily from WW’s sense of style and iconic imagery.

At carnaval, a magazine had a special spread on heroines, and guess who looked better naked and spray-painted?

And the talk on TV is the new Wonder Woman series, for which casting has been ongoing. Elizabeth Hurley was cast in the pilot as the superhero nemesis (not any of the classic ones, mind you).

Speaking of Wonder Woman TV series, check this pilot for a silly and thankfully unaired show.

Now it’s just wait until she gets off that silly costume she’s been in lately.

Here are some fantastic Wonder Women that Brazilian artist Ed Benes has been producing for the Amazon lately.

Only in Brazil

Carnival has come and gone and left a few victims. The thing to do this year was to get electrocuted while following mobile stages around town. People on the very top of these floats hit power cords and a domino effect downed those around too. In another instance, metallic tape was being use as serpentine, getting caught on the electric cables and frying the reveler holding it and whoever else was around. Seventeen people died as a result.

The gay Supermen couldn’t save the day because they are at the samba parade.

The Phantom

Last week was The Phantom’s 75^th birthday. Considered by many to be “the first superhero” (his first publication predates Superman’s by two years and Batman’s by three) the Ghost Who Walks has had many incarnations and has served as inspiration and as a trailblazers for others to come. His birthdate indicates the beginning of the era of the modern masked vigilante.

Coca Cola vs. Daft Punk

Coke wil have limited edition Daft Punk bottles in gold and silver to be sold in clubs in Europe this summer.

Tim Burton

The Tim Burton Exhibit, curated by the New York Museum of Modern Art and at the Tiff’s Bell Lightbox in Toronto since November, offers a carefully arranged insight into the mind of one of the most deranged filmmakers in contemporary cinema.
From highly polished designs for his stop-motion movies to his high-school sketch books containing some of his earliest works, the exhibit brings a little something from each one of his movies, plus some rare and private productions.
The first thing that strikes you how many movies this guy has a made! One almost forgets that Willy Wonka and Beetlejuice are sons of the same father, or that Alice and Batman were reworked by the same man. And you almost forget that Johnny Depp is always there somehow.
The second thing is, wow, this guy has an incredibly wild (if forever fixated on the same themes) imagination! His designs are unique and his carnivalesque and macabre style has become such a trademark that people will pay money to see his high-school doodles.
But the chance to see the original costume of Edward Scissorhands, Catwoman and sketches for most of his characters is a treat in itself. Besides many of his rare animated, 16 mm short movies and videoclips are also exhibited. Scary fun.

Paper world

Only in Brazil

Michael Jackson is now a taxi driver in Brazil.