Results tagged “davidmamet”

In a world torn by war, with an economy in ruins, it's nice to know we've still got Jeremy Piven's antics to take our minds off things—his abrupt departure from the modestly successful Broadway revival of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow has outraged the show's producers and cast members.Yesterday Piven's doctor, Carlon Colker, said he ordered Piven to withdraw from the production because of "elevated levels of mercury" in his blood, ostensibly caused by the hard-partying actor's penchant for sushi and Chinese herbs, which can contain heavy metals.

[CASTING UPDATE BELOW] Entourage star Jeremy Piven has gone from calling out sick to simply quitting his current gig on Broadway in David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow. Mamet tells Variety: "I talked to Jeremy on the phone, and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury. So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer." (Promises, promises.)

My endorsement of this measure, issued in blue covers, first referred to as the “blue Bills”, have come to be known, on late night Talkshows, as “The Blue Balls.” This, while accurate, is disrespectful to my Office.

MOVIES: A lavishly restored print of Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s visionary film The Holy Mountain has been making the rounds this year; it’s back again this weekend at IFC Center for a pair of midnight screenings. First released in 1973, The Holy Mountain has grown into a cult classic for its surreal, psychedelic imagery and a serpentine, metaphysical storyline, which takes as inspiration, among other things, "The Ascent of Mt. Carmel" by St. John of the Cross and the idea of a mountain uniting heaven and earth.

(directed by Zoe Cassavetes)

about a tiny jewel thief and the family who puts him in diapers thinking he's a sweet baby. Awww, isn't it adorable when Marlon smacks Shawn upside the head with a frying pan?

Grand Army Plaza Memorial Arch // Prospect Park, Brooklyn // through June 25, Sat. 2 & 7pm, Sun. 2 & 5pm // free, but you can pay for reserved seats at Smarttix

She has McCormack’s number, but only nine of ten digits. A little later, the phone rings. Apparently, it is McCormack. Jackie passes me the phone. He doesn’t want his full name mentioned, but he says that, yes, he receives a scholarship from the Yalincaks. It's so House of Games. Or even The Spanish Prisoner. And what's even more crazy about the article is that the Halincaks lie and their stories turn on a dime. But, the Halincaks still have an NYU building named after them.

If you’re like Gothamist and you enjoy new theatre in small venues (with small ticket prices), theater festivals are unbeatable. If you don’t go to shows much but want to get a taste for what’s out there, again, these gatherings of innovative voices and acting talents are the way to go. In the summer months, festivals arrive thick and fast; the first wave begins this week.

As Gothamist reads more and more about the NYU senior, Hakan Yalincak, and his scamming ways, the more we think we're reading a David Mamet play. The NY Post says that Yalincak and his mom rented an office "furnishing it with mahogany desks and plush, silk-upholstered chairs," "ordered thousands of dollars in computer equipment, hired temporary workers to monitor the Bloomberg stock tickers and shuttled investors in and out of the conference room." The man they rented the space from, Paul Ardaji, says that while the Yalincaks claimed they were started a hedge fund, they had their meetings all in one day and never showed up again - the computers weren't even online either. Even Bloomberg LLP has the FBI trying to help recover money they never got for the computers! The mother and son (and possibly father) are being sued by people who want their money back, and it seems that the Yalincaks bought a Porsche and Tiffany jewelry with the money. The mother, Ayferafet Yalincak, had actually served two years in an Indiana prison for practicing medicine without a license. Are you kidding? The Daily News says that perhaps the son was trying to "help his mom recover from an earlier scam," which sounds not only like The Grifters, but something two steps ahead of the Sante and Kenneth Kimes scandal. And now the question is whether or not the $21 million gift to NYU has real money behind it.

Just what the world was waiting for! The NY Times reports that Arianna Huffington is starting a celebrity group blog with people like "Walter Cronkite, David Mamet, Nora Ephron, Warren Beatty, James Fallows, Vernon E. Jordan Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Diane Keaton, Norman Mailer and Mortimer B. Zuckerman." Huh. Did Huffington read the Businessweek article about blogs changing business and decide, "It's on"? It'll be called Huffington Post, the NY Times article positions it as a competitor to The Drudge Report, but it seems less that than a celebrity vanity project like, oh, we don't know...maybe like an episode of The Love Boat with more street cred and an ability for readers to comments. Huffington says it's "an affirmation of [blogs'/the blogosphere's] success and will only enrich and strengthen its impact on the national conversation," but Sure, it'll be cool to read what Walter Cronkite thinks, but we fear he'll get bogged down with despamming the system. And don't get us started on wondering if certain celebrities are actually posting or making a minion post for them.

And speaking of Law & Order, in the NY Times's nice "Conventiontown" insert this weekend, Dan Barry waxes about the funny concept of really knowing New York City:

If residents can be forgiven for presuming to know New York, then visitors to this city, including Republican delegates from around the country, can be forgiven for embracing a similar delusion: of thinking that they, too, know New York, based on a devotion to "Law and Order" and a three-day business trip to a Sheraton near Times Square.

John Hodgman, Writer