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Showing posts from April, 2013

A Night On The Town In Hollywood With Alan Cumming

Alan Cumming and Alexander Stuart in Hollywood. I recently came across these photos of a wonderful night out with our good friend, the immeasurably talented Alan Cumming . Alan is a household name for playing  Eli Gold on The Good Wife , but equally famous for his astonishing work as Hamlet  in cycle shorts (which I saw perhaps 20 years ago and still recall vividly as being the best production of the play I have ever seen). Alan also starred - and won a Tony Award - as the MC in the hugely successful Broadway musical Cabaret (coming back with Alan starring again next year) - and his equally phenomenal one-man Broadway version of Macbeth  (still running now). Anyway, Charong and I had a particularly fantastic night out on the town in Hollywood with Alan a wee while back, and here are the police mug shots to prove it! Alan Cumming, Alexander Stuart and a glimpse of Charong Chow. Photographs Above Copyright  ©  2013 Alexander Chow-Stuart....

David Tait - Avalanche on Everest!

The Khumbu Icefall - beautiful until it comes crashing down on you. My friend David Tait , who's climbing Everest for his fifth time to raise money for Britain's leading children's charity, the NSPCC , and to raise awareness of child sexual abuse (of which David himself was a victim at the age of ten), survived an AVALANCHE on Sunday April 28 2013, when a huge chunk of ice broke off and triggered every ice climber's worst nightmare: a vast roaring, raging torrent of snow and ice. Here is David's own account of what happened - from his regular David Tait Expeditions 2013 Dispatches: Dispatch 15, The Khumbu Icefall 28TH April 2013 – 5am.      “F*****g run!” screamed Woody at from the head of our 5 man column. Something within me instinctively knew why, despite not having seen the danger. Luckily my iPod was only entertaining only one ear otherwise I doubt I would have heard the warning. I glanced up high and to my left. There was my worst ni...

Astonishing Photos of Our Planet on Google+ from +Incredible Planet Earth

Dongchuan Red Land, China - +Incredible Planet Earth , Google+ Through some astonishing photographs posted on Google+ - most notably daily by +Incredible Planet Earth - I have been discovering new wonders on this fabulous planet we all share. The photo above of Dongchuan Red Land in a little known area south west of Kunming, capital city of Yunnan Province, China, reveals an extraordinary landscape, little visited by tourists. There are more stunning photographs and information about the area on a blog post by Impact Lab , called The Breathtaking Beauty of Lexiaguo, China. Antelope Valley, Arizona - +Incredible Planet Earth , Google+ This photograph of a striking shaft of sunlight in caves in Antelope Valley, Arizona prompted a comment by one friend of "Beam me up, Scotty" - and indeed it does seem as if teleportation might just have occurred, or be about to. Earth's oceans glistening in the sun, as seen from space - +Incredible Planet Earth...

Miles Davis - It Never Entered My Mind - Sublime

I'm on a music video kick right now - and what better late-night listening (or anytime listening) than this sublime jazz track by Miles Davis , It Never Entered My Mind. I have nothing to add to musical perfection...except that co-composer Lorenz Hart was a close family relative of a friend of ours, Jane Hart - and it's hard to imagine that this slow, beautiful track came from a 1940 Broadway musical comedy, Higher and Higher.

Bob Dylan and Van Morrison in Athens - Magic

While I was searching for the Bob Dylan/Johnny Cash video of Girl From The North Country , I came across this treasure: Dylan and Van "The Man" Morrison performing a lesser known Morrison song, Foreign Window , together, seemingly just for themselves (actually for the cameras of BBC's Arena arts program, One Irish Rover - Van Morrison in Performances ), in Athens during Bob Dylan's 1989 European tour.  (Sources: YouTube and Rolling Stone Videos )

Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash - Girl From The North Country

I've been meaning to post this wonderful Bob Dylan / Johnny Cash duet of Girl From The North Country ever since I saw and loved David O Russell's Silver Linings Playbook. The most memorable sequence in the film involves this beautiful song, and I love this TV performance from 1969 (I believe). Dylan wrote the song following his trip to England in December 1962 , and there is some debate about whom the song is about. The duet with Johnny Cash (which is the version used in Silver Linings Playbook) was recorded in a February 1969 recording session when Dylan was in Nashville to record Nashville Skyline . (Source: Wikipedia )

DISCOSMIC ADVENTURE this Saturday April 27 at DADA, Shanghai

If you count yourself among one (or several) of the following, then this Saturday night's DISCOSMIC ADVENTURE at DADA in Shanghai is for you: Space Heads, Stargazers, Alien Abductees, Cosmonauts, Disconauts, Moustachioed Moog Fans, Naturists, Homos and Heteros, Disco Dancers, Italo Stallions, French Synth-Freaks, Fake Moon Landing Conspiracy Theorists and Women From Mars. Or maybe you just like to DANCE!!!!! Come listen to American Booze DJs and GET DOWN to sounds like this: If that doesn't get your silver moonsuit popping, nothing will! The Space Party blasts off at 10:00pm (22:00 hours) this Saturday, April 27, at DADA, 115 Xingfu Lu Changning, near Fahuazhen Lu - nearest Metro stop: Jiaotong University. 幸福路115号, 近法华镇路 One small step for personkind, one giant leap for dance!

Zhao Wei - So Young

Zhao Wei's directorial debut, So Young , opens in Shanghai this week. It will be interesting to see what this actress-turned-director has created for her debut movie as director:

From LA to Shanghai

A postcard of our flying visit to Los Angeles. Next up: Shanghai, to rest, feed the pets and get some work done. Photo Collage of LA Copyright  © 2013  Alexander Chow-Stuart. Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Hudson's corn snake eats a thawed frozen baby mouse.

The Wonders of the Los Angeles Zoo

Paradise especially loves zebras - and wants one of her own! The natural wonders of the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park - doubly wonderful to Paradise (four), who has dreamed of zebras, giraffes, elephants and flamingoes, but never actually seen them before. All photographs Copyright  ©  2013 Alexander Chow-Stuart. One of Hudson and Paradise's favorite animals - a giraffe. An elephant, relaxing after being in its enclosure all day. There are wonderful pathways lined with bamboo at the zoo. Flamingoes.

Welcome To LA - And Fred Segal's

In LA for meetings and just to soak in the city I love so much...not least Fred Segal's, the unique clothing boutique and restaurant/cafe on Melrose in West Hollywood (and in Santa Monica). One of my favorite spots in the world. WE LOVE LA!!!!! Photograph Copyright  ©  2013 Alexander Chow-Stuart.

The Amazing "Disappearing" Art of Lui Bolin

Chinese artist Liu Bolin has a remarkable ability to "disappear" within the wonderful artwork that he creates. More to come soon.

The Stunning Hotel Sofitel Fes Palais Jamai in Fes, Morocco

Hotel Sofitel Fes Palais Jamai , Fes, Morocco. I wanted to share this stunning photograph of the equally startling view from the Hotel Sofitel Fes Palais Jamai in Fes (or Fez), Morocco. The hotel is truly beautiful, and the view of Fes is breathtaking. Many thanks to my best Morocco pal, Mark Willenbrock , for sharing this with me.

Follow David Tait's Everest Expedition in Nepal

David Tait at the Monkey Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. My friend David Tait has now started his 2013 Everest expedition and is already in Nepal on the early stages of his journey to the summit of Everest. His mission is to raise awareness of child sexual abuse, of which David was sadly a victim at the age of ten, and to raise money for Britain's longest-established children's charity, the NSPCC. (Please see my earlier blog post, David Tait's 2013 Expedition To Everest To Stop Child Abuse , for more details, including video from the Discovery Channel of David on Everest during a previous expedition.) A monkey at the Monkey Temple. You can follow David's adventures in Nepal and on Everest through his excellent regular dispatches on his website, davidtait.com - written with all the color, humor, exotic encounters and sense of being there, that you could wish for. Only today, David survived a near-death experience with a falling yak! A cable bri...

Kelp Forest at the California Science Center in Los Angeles

For some reason I was thinking this morning about the beautiful kelp forests that populate the coast of California - and of this exhibit at the California Science Center in Los Angeles. This post is from an old blog of mine, Loving The Wolf , and was originally posted on Friday August 6, 2010. Photograph  ©   2010 Alexander Chow-Stuart. It's really worth checking out the astonishing  Ecosystems Experience  at the LA Science Museum (actually it's called the  California Science Center ) on Exposition Boulevard.  There is a truly beautiful kelp tank with the shoal of fish I photographed here, as well as swell sharks, bat rays and other marine life that you would find in a kelp forest.  The kelp has even started to reproduce in the tank - watch out for the tiny yellow triangles that show where baby kelp is growing. Really worth a visit. We took our young children and they loved it - as did I.