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Thursday, January 14, 2010 – Balloon Day
Man Ray was always an odd duck, a contributor to both the Dada and Surrealist movements – and with Jean Arp, Max Ernst, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso, part of the first Surrealist exhibition at the Galerie Pierre in Paris in 1925. But he was best known for his avant-garde photography – James Joyce, Gertrude Stein and Jean Cocteau posed for him. Unfortunately he had been born in South Philly, the eldest child of Russian-Jewish immigrants, and as the Germans moved in on Paris, he decided it was best to leave, for Hollywood. He lived out here from 1940 until 1951 – in his flat at the Lido Apartments, on the southwest corner of Wilcox and Yucca. Then he had to get back to his Paris, and he did.
But would have liked what was at the Lido today – a somewhat surreal balloon man on the wrought iron fence. It seems surrealism lives on. Or maybe it's Dada.
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Of course it was Balloon Day in Hollywood. MTV was filming an episode of "Warren the Ape" down in front of the Ivar Theater. He's a washed-out celebrity puppet by the way, and this location shoot involved a lot of balloons and a float for some reason. It was hard to tell. They were between takes.
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The series got the green light last September:
Tony DiSanto, President of MTV Programming today announced that MTV has greenlit "Warren the Ape," the latest in a wave of new scripted series for the network. Set to air in 2010, this character-driven comedy will give viewers an uproariously colorful take on "the celebrity reality show genre" and feature a host of celebrity cameos mixed with puppetry.
"Comedy consistently resonates with our audience and we are building a diverse slate that brings an MTV twist to the genre," said Tony DiSanto, President of Programming, MTV. “‘Warren the Ape' is a live action scripted comedy that tells the tale of an ape trying to revive a career in Hollywood by any means necessary. This show truly has a unique visual style and tone as well as a creator driven voice that is fresh and exciting."
"Warren The Ape," a scripted comedy set within a fictional reality show, chronicles the trials and tribulations of a D-grade celebrity puppet. A brash, cantankerous, out-of-work actor, Warren "The Ape" Demontague is attempting to clean up his act and scramble his way back into the Hollywood limelight. Having sampled a brief taste of success as a star on the former sitcom “Greg the Bunny,” Warren's life has been in a downward spiral ever since the show got canceled. When the opportunity for his own reality show arises, Warren takes this chance to restore his celebrity status once again.
Yeah, well, whatever.
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If you wish to use any of these photos for commercial purposes I assume you'll discuss that with me. And should you choose to download any of these images and use them invoking the "fair use" provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, please provide credit, and, on the web, a link back to this site.
Technical Note:
These photographs were taken with a Nikon D200 – the lenses used were AF-S Nikkor 18-70 mm 1:35-4.5G ED, or AF Nikkor 70-300 mm telephoto. The high-resolution photography here was modified for web posting using Adobe Photoshop 7.0 software.
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All text and photos unless otherwise noted, Copyright © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 - Alan M. Pavlik
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