If you only have three minutes to spend on American Psycho, Mary Harron's brilliant adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' brutal satire of 80s excess, make it the Business Card Scene (caps required). It's a prefect synecdoche for the movie: Patrick Bateman's calculated exterior, the hyper-competitive atmosphere, the way one character pulls his card from the running at the mere mention of Paul Allen's card (he looks like he just got pantsed after a cold swim), Patrick's near-orgasmic reaction to the watermark followed almost instantly by a murderous rage. Packing that much into one scene is plenty badass to me. See for yourself:

POSTE DE RELATIONNISTE AU CENTRE D’EXPOSITION L’IMAGIER
Le Centre d’exposition L’Imagier est un organisme sans but lucratif situé à Gatineau (secteur Aylmer) voué à la diffusion de l’art contemporain. Il coordonne également les spectacles estivaux et évènements qui se tiennent dans le Parc de L’Imaginaire. L’Imagier est à la recherche d’un ou d’une relationniste dynamique pour se joindre à l’équipe de ce centre en plein renouveau.
TÂCHES ET RESPONSABILITÉS
Sous la supervision de la directrice, le relationniste / la relationniste aura principalement à assurer la diffusion des activités du Centre auprès des médias, de la population générale et de ses membres.

•  Conception et mises à jour des outils de communication (site Internet, invitations aux expositions, brochures et dépliants, etc.)
• Garantir la communication avec les médias (mises à jour de la liste des médias, organisation conférences de presse, envois des communiqués de presse, etc.)
• Assurer le lien entre les membres et le Centre (mises à jour de la liste des membres, coordonner les envois électroniques ou postaux, concevoir des moyens d’attirer de nouveaux membres, etc.)
• Solliciter les commanditaires
• Assister la direction dans la coordination des évènements du Centre et dans la réalisation de tâches connexes.

EXIGENCES ET PROFIL RECHERCHÉ

• Formation en communications, en gestion des arts, en muséologie, en arts ou en graphisme
• Une bonne connaissance du milieu de l’art contemporain est un atout important
• Grande maîtrise du français tant à l’écrit qu’à l’oral
• La maîtrise de l’anglais sera considérée
• Connaissance de World, Excel, Photoshop et d’Outlook

Le candidat idéal possède un très bon sens de l’organisation, est autonome, fait preuve d’une grande polyvalence et est créatif.
CONDITIONS D’EMPLOI

Deadline: September 9, 2010.

General Manager for Propeller Dance

Based in Ottawa, Propeller Dance is the only organization in Ontario with the sole mandate of providing dance programming to children, youth and adults with and without disability.  A registered charity incorporated in 2007 Propeller Dance is a leader in integrated dance in Canada, providing inclusive, accessible and integrated dance programming to people with and without disability. After significant organizational growth the organization is now looking for an experienced and dedicated General Manager responsible for running the administrative operations of the organization, including contributing to fundraising, communications, volunteer and financial management.

The Ottawa School of Art is pleased to announce that it will present, in cooperation with the Taller Grabado de Holguin and the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba (UNEAC) de Holguin, an intensive lithography workshop.  The workshop will be conducted by master printer Raciel Suarez at the Taller de Grabado and and will take place from Friday, October 29 to Monday, November 8 and will be followed by 3 days of beach time at the Guardalavaca Resort.  The course will be given in Spanish with translation into English.
OSA is currently working with the Taller and UNEAC to establish a price for the workshop, but the cost will be approximately $1,750 CDN – including air fare from Montreal, local travel in Holguin, hotel accommodation and meals in Holguin, tuition and shop materials for the workshop and accommodation at the resort. Students will be required to provide their own printing paper for the workshop.  Hotel accommodations have already been arranged in Holguin and at the resort and are based on double occupancy.  Air travel is via Cubana Airlines from Montreal direct to Holguin. We hope to be able to finalize the package price by the end of August.
People wishing to participate in this workshop will need a special visa for cultural events and exchanges to enter Cuba.  The normal tourist visa will not be sufficient for the workshop. The cost of the visa is $125 CDN and is included in the estimate.  Students will have to arrange for their visas themselves either through the Cuban Embassy in Ottawa or the Cuban Consulate in Montreal or Toronto. We will need your full name (first, middle and last as it appears on your passport), your date of birth and your passport number.  These are required so that UNEAC can issue an official letter of invitation to each participant.  This letter is needed in order to obtain the specialized visa.
If you are interested in participating in this workshop, please contact Jeff Stellick, Director of the Ottawa School of Art by email at director@artottawa.ca after August 16. A deposit of $600 will be required to reserve a space in the workshop.

Call to Sculptors:
Currently the gallery is seeking sculptures for inside the gallery and large sculptures for outside in the Sculpture Garden.
In the last two months the majority of the all the large out door sculptures have sold.
Please mail samples of your work to the gallery.
One hundred and three tons of stone have been used to build Ottawa's first and only Sculpture Garden. Artists from all across North America will be featured in this inspiring creative space.
Patrick John Mills Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
286 Hinchey Ave. Ottawa. Ontario. K1Y 1M2. Tel 613 729 0406.
Gallery Hours: Thursday - Saturday 12 - 5 pm.
www.PatrickJohnMills.ca

Call for artists - Figureworks is an organization promoting figurative art of the human form. For its first annual award show from October 5-30 2010, Figureworks is calling for artists in all media who work with the human figure. How to participate can be found at www.Figureworks.org.

BACHMAN & TURNER
Bachman & Turner
www.bachmanandturner.com
Dist: E1 Music Canada


BACHMAN & TURNER have announced they will be releasing their first album of newly-recorded music in over 20 years called BACHMAN & TURNER. Over a four-year run Randy Bachman and Fred Turner (as leaders of BTO) earned a staggering 120 platinum, gold and silver disks notching up hits in over 20 countries. The hard rock quartet reached #1 on both the Billboard singles and album charts as well as placing a half dozen more songs in the Top 50. What brought the two rock icons together after so many years? “The music,” Randy explains. “I was recording my own album with the intention of featuring different vocalists. I asked Fred to sing on this killer track, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Is the Only Way Out,” and it grew from there. It evolved quite naturally and organically into a Bachman & Turner album.”

Aside from the Paris stuff, most of what's in the Gossip Girl season four trailer is a rehash of where we left things last season (particularly with Nate and his terrible hair), so let's just skip ahead to what we're really concerned with: Chuck and Blair. Does she look exquisite? Check. Is Chuck's convalescence mysteriously the hottest he's ever looked? Double check (extra check for his best hair ever). What will Ed Westwick's exquisitely expressive face bring us next season (starting September 13, only 11 days away!)? If the last shot's anything to go by, a look so hungry your screen is going to burst into flames. Watch:

We all love latter day Alec Baldwin: narrating The Royal Tenenbaums, poking fun at his own image in State and Main, being the best of a very good thing on 30 Rock. But, man, if there is a scene that should follow Baldwin to his grave (and I mean that in the very best way), it's his lone scene in the film adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross. Written especially by David Mamet for the adaption, it sets up story and the tone but somehow manages not to be an exposition dump. It's so oddly quotable: "Coffee is for closers," "Second place is a set of steak knives," "I'd wish you good luck, but you wouldn't know what to do with it if you got it." Let's watch:

It's hard to know exactly where to start in our Badass chronicles. As it only natural, Putin came along to remind us exactly what a badass looks like. In Foreign Policy's slide show about how Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin spent their summer vacations, Putin does plenty of badass things: ride a motorcycle, fly a helicopter, visit a new mother in the hospital (badassedly, of course). But this image takes the cake:

You need no further explanation than the one FP's already got on tap: Putin stares down a bear. He's staring down a damn bear because, hey, bears should be afraid of Putin people. I submit to you Vladimir Putin, Badass for Life.

What makes a badass badass? Is it a motorcycle and leather jacket, à Marlon Brando in The Wild One? Is it sensitive Holden Caulfield's escape from all the phonies in The Catcher in the Rye? Is it the complete opposite of selling J.D. Salinger's toilet on eBay? (We're gonna go with yes on that last one).

Badass is a lot of different things to a lot of different people, so definitions naturally vary. Mostly, badassery isn't just action, it's an attitude. It's a confidence that permeates every action combined with intolerance for bullshit and a certain level of apathy toward things that don't concern the badass. It's Maslow's self actualization by way of The Most Interesting Man in the World.

There is no badass uniform, no secret handshake or easy identifier. Badasses simply are. They're trail blazers without calling too much attention to themselves, so we're here to do it for them. For this, the third anniversary issue of (Cult)ure, we've gathered together badasses from politics and pop culture, so you don't have to. Welcome to the Badass issue.

So much deliciousness in last night's True Blood entry, "Fresh Blood:" Yvetta's revenge, Jessica and Hoyt, Andy's confession, younger Arlene. Lots of action down at Fangtasia, and, of course, Eric does have a plan. One that Godric would like, I think.

Bill is a Third Grade Teacher, and Sookie is a Real Estate Agent

Bill busts into Fangtasia, demanding Sookie and Eric, so of course Pam's just in the midst of dropping a little something down her cleavage. Bill's like, "Ah am older and stronger and just drank a fairy, so piss off," and Pam's like, "That's not part of the plan," so they fight. Bill is winning, so that's when Pam whips out her little something from down her cleavage: a spray bottle of water and silver, vampire pepper spray if you will. Bill sets to wailing.

Lots of holy shit moments in last night’s True Blood, “I Smell a Rat,” largely associated with confessions rather than dramatic actions: Tara comes clean about what happened to her, Jason comes clean about Eggs, Crystal comes clean about what she is, Arlene comes clean about the baby’s father, Jesus and Lafayette take a spiritual journey through their past. Also: Sookie is a fairy.

Sookie is a Fairy, and Eric is a Farmer

Bill’s in the midst of telling her this, while Sookie’s all, “Shut the front door,” but the minute he invokes Claudine’s name, Sookie’s ready to listen. Bill instantly recognized Sunshine Town as Bon Temps Cemetery and found out from Claudine that Sookie is a fairy. Every vampire who knows the truth wants a piece of Sookie because 1) the fay were wiped out years ago by vampires as 2) their blood is so intoxicating. Indeed, Bill finds Sookie’s blood the most delicious he has ever tasted.  So, she’s la tua cantante but for every vampire. Anyway, Bill’s happy to foreswear her blood forever just to prove his love for her (also: self-denial is his second favourite thing after self-loathing). Sookie just looks wide-eyed and misty at all of this.

Because three vampire posts in a row are better than two, let's all take a moment to admire Rolling Stone's True Blood cover for their September issue, shall we?

The only question is, will this implied threeway come to pass on the show? Okay, there are other questions like, "If Alexander Skarsgaard doesn't wear a sock, why does Stephen?" and "How do I get the job standing around splashing these guys with more blood?" and "How many sit ups went into this shoot?" There just aren't any other relevant  questions.

The tagline the CW marketing people have gone with is "The Year of the Kat," but since that is ridiculous, I'm taking my cues from Stefan on this one: "She came here to destroy us. How we respond to that will define us." Yup, looks like season two of our beloved The Vampire Diaries will focus on Katherine's return to Mystic Falls. Since is looks like "unstable" Damon will choose the second part of Katherine's "kill me or kiss me" ultimatum, I guess it falls to Stefan to stake his maker. Better bust out that flame thrower, Salvatore. (Psst: hit the "read more" to watch the video.)

In one of those weird things where suddenly it's everywhere, everyone is talking about the Edward Cullen Manllow on esty. What's a manllow, you say? It's a man-pillow. Remember those little half armchair things that sat on your bed when you were a kid but too lazy to just rest your pillows upright against the headboard? Imagine one of those, only with longer arms and Edward Cullen's visage silk screened across the head. Yeah, like that.

Of course, this item sold February 15, so I'm not sure why we're all talking about it today. Some industrious pop artist should make one out of marble (as Stephenie Meyer describes her vampires), so girls everyone would find out what it would really be like to snuggle up to that every night (hint: cold, uncomfortable). In fact, this artist should do a whole Twilight statue (again, a Meyer word) series: Edward as David, Rosalie as Winged Victory, Carlisle as The Thinker. Dudes, I'm on to something here.

DEXTER: SEASON 4

DIRECTOR: VARIOUS

Starring: Julie Benz , Jennifer Carpenter , Michael Hall , James Remar , Lauren Velez , David Zayas , Desmond Harrington , C.S. Lee

The Showtime Original Series DEXTER™ is back with an all-new season, and this time America’s favourite serial killer has gone from freewheeling bachelor to responsible husband and doting dad. Maintaining an average-guy facade while satisfying his need to kill has never been easy. But now, with wife and kids in tow, Dexter’s got more to lose then ever, as he gets drawn into a deadly game with a killer every bit as dangerous — and conflicted — as he is.

GENRE: TELEVISION
FORMAT: DVD & BLU-RAY
RUNTIME: 632 MINS
RATED: NR