LOS ANGELES – It’s 6:30 on a Wednesday morning, in a Downtown Los Angeles warehouse, and a man in a giraffe suit is bobbing his head to booming drum-and-bass. Outside, the streets are clogged with commuters, but in here it’s party time. “I’m just trying to have fun,” says a young man named Alex Becker, his smart shirt translucent with sweat.
Read Full Article: Hemispheres Magazine
Illustration Marc Rosenthal
Growing up in Nebraska, Jaime King was an outcast among her peers. That was until she turned 14 and was discovered by a New York modeling agent. The Omaha-born blonde was catapulted onto the fast track, appearing in major magazines like Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Allure, and Harper’s Bazaar. The ’90s saw her strutting the catwalk — clad in everything from Alexander McQueen to Chanel and Christian Dior — and making a name for herself as “James King.” But with the success came temptations that saw the budding star experimenting with drugs. After becoming clean at the age of 17, King turned her focus to acting.
Read Full Article: Yahoo Style
Photography by Darcy Hemley
Audiences are buzzing about Jake Gyllenhaal’s transformation—both physical and emotional—into heavyweight champion Billy Hope in the upcoming film Southpaw. The actor put on 15 pounds of muscle, as well as a dozen tattoos and a serious snarl, but he wasn’t the only one to hop into the ring while prepping for his role. Rachel McAdams, who plays Hope’s loyal wife, Maureen, took plenty of turns sparring with professional boxing trainer, Terry Claybon. She liked boxing so much, in fact, that The Notebook actress walked away from the set with her own pink boxing gloves, and has used the sport to prep for future projects, such as her current role of angsty police woman Ani Bezzerides in HBO’s True Detective.
Read Full Article: Yahoo Style
Photo: Everett Collection
LOS ANGELES — It takes a lot to get an Angeleno on a subway. Though Los Angeles has had its own operating Metrolink system since 1992, it’s still a largely underused form of transportation for the city’s car-preferring busy bodies. But while many residents look to carpool lanes and Uber as their preferred means of getting across town these days, the public transit system is finding another way to woo customers — with art.
Under the city’s bustling sidewalks lie miles of original artwork, and as the Metro changes station locations…
Ditty was my first companion after relocating from Michigan to Los Angeles. He was my partner through the chaos of adjusting to life in a new city, and he was drama free, unlike my out-of-work actress roommate.
Did I mention Ditty was a goldfish?
He was part of my life before Greg, whom I met one night after venturing out with a girlfriend to shake off the aftermath of a bad date. Earlier in the evening, I had gone to a sushi restaurant with a “Zoolander”-ish model (merely to sample the baked scallop roll at this cherished establishment, which he had deemed “life-altering”). While ranting about this latest dating flop on a bar stool at Jones Hollywood, Greg approached me. My friend hit it off with his sidekick, and we spent the next six hours together.
Read Full Article: The Los Angeles Times
Illustration by Rebekka Dunlap
“I just tricked myself into believing that I could do it, and went for it,” says Kelli Garner of her decision to tackle the role of Marilyn Monroe in Lifetime’s upcoming feature The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, which premieres May 30 (just two days shy of the glamorous late star’s 89th birthday). “Apparently we shot a miniseries that is four hours long, but I don’t remember any of it. It was the biggest, wildest blur of my career — more work that I’ve ever been thrown, but it was so much fun.”
Read Full Article: Yahoo Style
Photography by Olivia Malone
“I play a lot of nice women.”
So says JoBeth Williams, chuckling as she discusses her current roles, both of which call for her to get a little wicked.
It started with Myrna, of the NBC comedy Marry Me, who has trouble letting her son pursue marital bliss with his soon-to-be bride. Williams found the role so fulfilling that she jumped at the chance to play another prickly mother-in-law, on the new TBS series Your Family or Mine.
The half-hour sitcom, based on a popular Israeli show, follows a young married couple (Kat Foster and Kyle Howard) through episodes that take place with one set of in-laws or the other. Ed Begley, Jr., and Cynthia Stevenson play the wife’s parents, while Williams and Richard Dreyfuss portray the husband’s parents. Her character, Ricky, is an upper-middle-class mom whose sun rises and sets on her three sons.
Read Full Article: Emmy Magazine
Photo by: Keith Munyan
“I’m pretty shy when it comes to singing,” says Brittany Snow as she pulls up a chair on the back patio of Santa Monica’s Urth Caffe. It’s a surprising admission, coming from a woman who rose to prominence as an a cappella all-star in 2012’s “Pitch Perfect.” That, combined with her riveting performance of “The New Girl in Town” from Adam Shankman’s rendition of “Hairspray,”had us all convinced that the starlet would most likely follow in the footsteps of an actress-turned-songstress like Leighton Meester. But while she admits to belting out the occasional Sam Smith cover while driving through Los Angeles traffic, safely behind rolled up windows thankyouverymuch, you won’t see Snow manning the microphone anytime soon. “I am just not cool enough or brave enough to ever come out on a stage and be like, ‘Hello Wisconsin,’” she admits. “I just don’t think it’s going to happen.”
Read Full Article: Yahoo Style
Photography by Alisha Goldstein
If you walk down the Venice Beach boardwalk in L.A., you’ll find Todd Ray in his element: A 21st century P.T. Barnum standing on the pavement, chirping into a bullhorn and offering passerbys a glimpse at his two-headed turtle. It’s just one of the pets making up his collection of two-headed animals — the world’s largest. A crowd forms around him as he invites the curious behind a question mark–adorned door to check out sword swallowers, bearded ladies, a five-legged dog, chupacabra remains and more. Welcome to the Venice Beach Freakshow, of which Ray is ringmaster and founder. He’s also a newly minted TV star, the focal point of the AMC reality series Freakshow, which follows him, his family and his merry band of sideshow performers as they pursue their most unusual calling.
Read Full Article: Rolling Stone
Photo by: Brian L. Frank
On a sunny Saturday morning on Catalina Island, a group of students planted their feet on the pebbled beach and unfurled their yoga mats. Jaysea DeVoe, their 80-pound instructor, stood before them, clad in black-and-white striped yoga pants, giggling like the eighth grader she is.
“Mom, where’s my Boom Bottle,” asked Ms. DeVoe, referring to her wireless audio speaker. “Sorry, guys. The music is important,” she added, before resuming a series of meditation exercises.
Read Full Article: The New York Times
Photo by: John Francis Peters for The New York Times
Ten o’clock in the morning is an early call time for a rock band — especially after performing what is arguably their biggest ever U.S. show the night before.
This doesn’t stop Twin Atlantic from showing up at Red Bull Studios LA the next morning. Around 10:30 a.m. (after a slight delay due to their gear trailer taking a wrong turn and going temporarily MIA) the Scottish alt-rockers arrive, caffeine in hand, and ready to combat four days worth of jet lag in the name of recording live versions of tunes off their forthcoming album, ‘Great Divide,’ out August 18. Though a bit tattered from the previous evening’s show, the guys — singer/guitarist Sam McTrusty, guitarist Barry McKenna, bassist Ross McNae and drummer Craig Kneale — are eager to jump into the session.
Photo by: Twin Atlantic © Dean Chalkley
For a certain segment of travelers, Dubai tends to get a bad rap: It’s little more than a tacky, overpriced shopping mall planted in the desert. But dig a little deeper, past the glitzy resorts, soaring skyscrapers, designer boutiques and as-amazing-as-they-say nightclubs, and it turns out this man-made paradise in the desert is a one-of-a-kind adventure playground. After spending a few days there on a recent layover, partaking in an adrenaline sampler of activities, we became the Middle Eastern emirate’s latest unwitting converts.
Read Full Article: Men’s Journal
Photo Credit: Getty Images
Barry Belkin parks in front of his home in L.A.’s Mar Vista neighborhood, clutches his iPhone and waits. At exactly 6 p.m., he hits play and commences honking the horn of his 2009 Audi in time with a five-minute-long musical score. In a parking garage at UCLA, Hilary White joins in with a series of short honks, then a long one, on her 2005 Subaru. Meanwhile, Shamim Momin taps her horn while navigating her way through traffic in Atwater Village.