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Smiling and smiling and looking so fine…
The rather delicious picture of Iman and David above, was taken as they arrived at the Glamour Magazine 2006 Women Of The Year Awards held at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Monday night.
David was dressed by Italian designer
That pretty well says it to be honest, but if you’re interested in finding out who else attended the event, click on the image above to see a galaxy of stars pictured in their elegance over at
Somebody plays my song in tune…
We set this contest last week for five BowieNetters to win the two CDs above. (10.21.2006 NEWS: WIN SEU JORGE BOWIE COVERS CDS)
It wasn’t a hard one, I asked you to tell me what the two Bowie originals are on the original soundtrack CD, AND to send me the short quotation of David’s regarding Seu’s versions of his songs.
The two songs were Life on Mars? and Queen Bitch and this is what DB had to say about Seu’s interpretations of his songs:
“Had Seu Jorge not recorded my songs acoustically in Portuguese I would never have heard this new level of beauty which he has imbued them with.”
Here are the five randomly selected winners who knew all that stuff:
arabia
don
nolala
rubleem
steeoui
If you could all furnish me with your names and addresses, we’ll have the CDs to you pronto.
‘cos you can’t afford the ticket…
I know the majority of you that intended to be in New York to see David Bowie at the
Well, hopefully we’ll be able to satisfy ten more of you whose budget didn’t quite stretch to the $250 for the cheapest tickets.
We’ve had ten balcony tickets for the evening kindly donated to BowieNet which I’m sure will be eagerly snapped up by ten lucky members.
To be in with a chance of winning one of the ten tickets, all you have to do is make sure you can definitely make it to the venue on the night. I’m afraid all we’re donating is tickets, so you would have to make your own travel arrangements.
It is important that you are absolutely certain you can be there, as a no show would be unfair on anybody who was unsuccessful in this contest.
The only other thing we ask is that you knock up a report of David’s performance, which ideally you’d be able to e-mail to me to use in the news on the night of the show. Don’t worry about pictures, it’s just your impressions of the evening we need.
I should point out that the ticket states “Glamorous Attire”. How open to interpretation that is, I have no clue. Perhaps it’s best to check with other attendees on the MBs.
OK, if you think none of the above is a problem for you, e-mail me here now.
Usual BowieNet rules apply: Only one entry per BowieNet account, and please remember you must enter using your BowieNet e-mail or at least supply your BowieNet user name if you don’t have access to BowieNet e-mail.
The draw will close at midnight New York time on Thursday (Novemebr 2nd) and the winners will be announced the next morning to give them a whole week to arrange travel, etc. Good luck, folx.
Speaking of winners…
Hooked to the silver screen…
Following on from last week’s news item about
Here’s how they broke it down: Reviews counted: 135 ~ Fresh: 99 ~ Rotten: 36 ~ Average Rating = 7.2 out of 10
As you can see from the box office chart above, that translates as equal second place with Flags Of Our Fathers as critics choice, with only The Departed garnering more good reviews with 93 per cent of those being favourable.
Thanx to BowieNetter robpongi for the pointer.
You know my Suffragette City, Is outta sight…
As part of the
Here’s a bit about the band’s set from the Electric Proms site:
“Highlights include a chilled out “Not A Lot To Do” where the band were accompanied by a string quartet and a rockin’ version of David Bowie’s “Suffragette City” which left the crowd desperate for more.”
Suffragette City is at the end of the band’s set, at 26:30 minutes in on the online stream, which you can view online until November 3rd by clicking on The Zutons logo above…speaking of which, doesn’t it have a flavour of the Diamond Dogs Bowie logo?
Thanx to BowieNetter jms for the pointer to this story.
Meanwhile, following on from their inclusion of Moonage Daydream in their set last year, unconfirmed reports suggest
“The unexpected additional treat came toward the end of Don’t Give The Ghost Up, as they segued into Rock ‘N Roll With Me…it worked beautifully…alas too briefly. A worthy nod to our rock god’s influence and talent however.”
Not sure how brief a treat it was for you Tess, but it was a great choice for the band to have made. Hopefully we’ll all get to hear their version of it at some point.
Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock…
This one’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally taken delivery of the Placebo promo clock radios that we mentioned last month. (09.19.2006 NEWS: DB CONTRIBUTES TO PLACEBO SLEEVENOTES)
The contest is for five of the radios and five of the 10-year anniversary CD/DVD collectors editions of the debut Placebo album. (See aforementioned news story for CD details.)
The radio is a white Lexon FM radio and clock which measures 14cm x 8cm and 4cm deep with the aerial collapsed. (Ariel is erect in picture above…ooer missus, etc.)
The PLACEBO logo is printed in silver on the top of the radio and it’s unlikely you’ll find one of these very rare promos for sale online as they were made in such small quantities.
To enter the contest, all you need to do is send me an e-mail send me an e-mail with your prize preference (i.e. CD or radio) and the reason you think I used today’s lyric quotation of: “Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock”.
Bear in mind that there has to be a Bowie connection to the daily lyric quotation and some relevance to the actual news item…albeit tenuous.
Usual BowieNet rules apply: Only one entry per BowieNet account, and please remember you must enter using your BowieNet e-mail or at least supply your BowieNet user name if you don’t have access to BowieNet e-mail.
The contest will be open until midnight UK time on Sunday November 5th and we’ll announce the winners shortly thereafter. Good luck listeners!
Seven Days…
Just one week until the end of the discounted sale to BowieNetters of the official 2007 David Bowie/Mick Rock limited edition calendar. (Above right)
If you’ve not yet ordered yours, make sure you are logged in to BowieNet and
See our original stories at the beginning of the month (1st and 2nd) for more details.
I’m under Japanese influence…
We told you about EMI Japan’s plans to issue the Bowie back catalogue CDs in original replica mini vinyl packaging back in July. (07.03.2006 NEWS: YOUNG AMERICANS STILL ON, PLUS MORE FROM EMI JAPAN)
The albums will be released in three batches starting on David’s 60th birthday. Here’s the schedule:
Batch 1 – Released on January 8th in Europe and Japan and on January 16th in the U.S.
Space Oddity TOCP-65305
The Man Who Sold The World TOCP-65306
Hunky Dory TOCP-65307
The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars TOCP-65308
Aladdin Sane TOCP-65309
Pin Ups TOCP-65310
Batch 2 – Released on February 5th in Europe and Japan and on February 20th in the U.S.
Diamond Dogs TOCP-65311
Young Americans TOCP-65312
Station To Station TOCP-65313
Low TOCP-65314
“Heroes” TOCP-65315
Lodger TOCP-65316
Batch 3 – Released on March 5th in Europe and Japan on March 20th in the U.S.
Scary Monsters… And Super Creeps TOCP-65317
Let’s Dance TOCP-65318
Tonight TOCP-65319
Never Let Me Down TOCP-65320
Tin Machine TOCP-65321
For those of you concerned the CDs may not be available in your area, these are the other releasing territories:
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
Germany
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Israel
Korea
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Taiwan
Ukraine
USA
Hopefully we’ll be able to run some kind of contest for these nearer the time.
“For goodness sake, Tesla…I’ll have to confiscate this. Just think about your carbon footprint, man!”
And we light up our lives…
As promised yesterday (10.22.2006 NEWS: THE PRESTIGE IS THE #1 MOVIE IN AMERICA!), here are more excerpts from several reviews of
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That story is nudged to its wildly curlicued ending ? don?t worry, I won?t give it away ? by David Bowie, whose dry, amusing impersonation of the inventor Nikola Tesla allows the film to brush up gently against the real world. Tesla?s fierce rivalry with Thomas Edison is alluded to, and it suggests an actual historical counterpart to Angier and Borden?s struggle for dominance.
Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall give strong performances in small roles and David Bowie is barely recognizable but very good as Nikola Tesla the only non fictional character in the piece.
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Everyone is focused on an illusion (The Transported Man) cooked up by electricity whiz Nikola Tesla (yes, that is David Bowie, and he’s mesmerizing).
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Two other characters deserve mention: David Bowie, who delivers a truly delicious performance as the one historical character in the film — inventor and Thomas Edison rival Nikola Tesla — and Andy Serkis, best known for his role as Gollum/Smeagol in “The Lord of the Rings” films, who is wonderfully funny as Tesla’s assistant Mr. Alley.
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A side trip to the mountains of Colorado, where the famous (and real-life) inventor Nikola Tesla is working on his coils and constructs, is The Prestige’s big piece of misdirection. David Bowie plays the scientist with a simmering mad energy, and Andy Serkis is his sycophantic sidekick. It is Angier who has come here, to learn the secrets behind “The Transported Man” machine that Tesla was said to have designed for arch-nemesis Borden.
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As in his chronologically warped masterpiece, “Memento,” Nolan moves forward and backward in time, and his main characters tiptoe along the delicate line between obsession and insanity. Angier, a gifted showman, achieves fame first while Borden, a more technically gifted illusionist, slowly gains renown. Borden’s breakthrough effect is “The Transported Man,” in which he apparently moves from one side of the stage to the other by passing through a pair of unconnected, freestanding doors. As their duel comes to a boil, Angier commissions a transporting device from the maverick electrical genius Nikola Tesla (played with an air of somber wisdom by David Bowie, whose eyes snap and crackle).
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There are doppelgangers and double-crossers, spies and counterspies, romance and marital strife. There’s a trip to Colorado, where Nikola Tesla (played by David Bowie in mesmerizing, menacing fashion) builds a Star Trek-style transporter that can turn the trick into reality.
In addition to the fine performances of Bale, Jackman and Bowie, there’s yet another great one by Michael Caine, and a solid but small turn for Scarlett Johansson. The costuming, the scenery and the effects are all phenomenal.
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You’ve got to love a cast list that includes this tantalizing prospect: “. . . and David Bowie as the crazed scientist.”
The former Ziggy Stardust plays a mysterious electricity expert in “The Prestige,” a rollicking good magician mystery set in turn-of-the-century London. (That would be the 19th century turning into the 20th.)
All of the actors are in fine form. Jackman and Bale push each other to the edge of sweaty remorse. Bowie is quietly effective as a fictionalized version of inventor Nikola Tesla, who dabbles, in the film anyway, with a molecule-defying transport machine. But with all the big names on the bill, the best performance is turned in by Rebecca Hall, as Borden’s worried wife.
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Jackman believes that Bale is responsible for the death of his wife (Piper Perabo), who had been their assistant while they were apprentice magicians. His determination to get the better of Bale grows into an obsessive fervor. Bale becomes equally intent upon outdoing and outwitting Jackman. In the process of one-upping each other, they run up against an errant inventor (a wonderful mustachioed David Bowie) whose experiments with electricity have been disavowed by the scientific community.
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Finally, Angier travels to the Colorado lab of electrical engineer and mad genius Nikola Tesla (David Bowie) and orders a machine that will help him top Borden’s trick. Some of the ensuing special-effects scenes border on sci-fi campiness, but of the two magic shows now in movie theaters – “The Illusionist” was released in August – “The Prestige” is by far the better-looking and more ambitious.
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The other turn-of-the-century-magic movie this year, of course, was “The Illusionist,” which starred Edward Norton as a conjurer in Vienna who enters into a crafty cat-and-mouse game with a police chief played by Paul Giamatti.
“The Prestige” also features two terrific actors — Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman — playing off each other, as prestidigitators competing for fame in 19th-century London. Throw Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson and David Bowie into the mix and you have a classy, intriguing thriller that keeps viewers guessing but, unlike its less twisty but more opaque predecessor, gives viewers a fighting chance to figure it all out before the third-act Big Reveal.
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Angier’s quest to learn (and steal) the secret leads him to Colorado Springs, where he hopes to build his own version of the trick with the help of real-life electrical engineer Nikola Tesla (unearthly David Bowie, in a literally hair-raising performance).
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Nolan, who has become an assured, stylish filmmaker in the span of only a few films, keeps the complicated plot spinning, constantly throwing in new elements (like David Bowie as a mysterious scientist, or Scarlett Johansson as a magician’s assistant) without taking the focus away from the competition between Jackman and Bale.
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The fact that Tesla is played by none other than David Bowie only makes his character more cool.
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Great stuff. With reviews like these it’s hardly surprising that
Lightning Frightening…Bowie is electric as Nikola Tesla in America’s top grossing film, The Prestige.
I believe in magic…
Congratulations are due to David Bowie and everybody else involved with
Here follows the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc:.
01 ~ The Prestige $14.8 million.
02 ~ The Departed $13.7 million.
03 ~ Flags of Our Fathers $10.2 million.
04 ~ Open Season $8 million.
05 (tie) ~ Flicka $7.7 million.
05 (tie) ~ The Grudge 2 $7.7 million.
07 ~ Man of the Year $7 million.
08 ~ Marie Antoinette $5.3 million.
09 ~ The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning $3.9 million.
10 ~ The Marine $3.7 million.
You can read a related article: ‘Prestige’ has magic touch with $14.8 million box-office debut by David German, AP movie writer,
Well done David, the huge turn out to see