LENSED

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING

ONE OF MY favourite photographers is François Rousseau. He took up photography in 1995 after ten years of painting. You'll know his work from the Dieux du Stade project, Chad White naked on horseback, and his portrait of Darryl Stephens for Out 100. These pictures are from A Day in L.A., lensed by Rousseau for Belgian fashion label Maison Vandenvos. Picture perfect Brazilian manikin Edilson Nascimento features prominently throughout.

EVERYTHING LENSED

ELSEWHERE - François Rousseau: Photographe

THE WEEK ACCORDING TO GARÇON STUPIDE

*São Paulo Fashion Week signs an agreement to fight racial discrimination on the runways; 10 per cent quota of black or indigenous models must be met. (Just 10 per cent? In Brazil?)

*Charlie Brooker reviews the BNP's political broadcast, and presents a novel solution to ridding Blighty of the rightwing facists.

*Still, the BNP can celebrate on one front at least: the Poles are going home.

*Oh dear, this is very sad: "Daily Mail haemorrhaging money"(excuse me whilst I collapse in a fit of derision).

*Transport for London tries to sell the first of its "miserable, inhuman and socialistc" bendy buses. So, former Ken introduced them, and Boris got himself elected on a I Hate Bendy Buses ticket. Anyone else think this is just a case of boys and really big toys?

*The rare photo of a black British soldier discovered in France.

*Did MI5 attempt to blackmail Muslim community workers?

*Ethiopia, where no one can here you queen: "Members are always clean-shaved with some having red paint on their fingernails. After observing those characteristics, you either blink at one another or flip lip balm tubes to give signs."

*Meanwhile in Mexico City, SGL couples "embrace lovingly in public or hold hands without drawing so much as a raised eyebrow". But life ain't perfect in Zona Rosa.

*And in Singapore, our SGL brothers and sisters hold their first public gay rights rally. The chewing gum brigade will shortly demand equal rights, too.

*Cambodia is celebrating a slightly different first - their first Mr. Gay!

*It's a hoot in Baghdad too: you're invited to the first U.S. Embassy Gay Pride Theme Party.

*Broken record: Russian police and SGL activist duet is a bloody hit. But hell, just like the Olympics in Beijing, let's ignore the ugly truth and have some fun! On that note, Popnograhpy explores 10 Reasons Why Russia is SO gay.

*And again, Mister Obama, just what in hell are you doing for us? Didn't you promise to help? An 18-year veteran of the US Air Force, Decorated Lt. Colonel Victor Fehrenbach, is being fired under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, "two years short of being able to retire with full pension benefits". Disgusting.

*The 9-year-old who organised a gay marriage rally: "Everybody is different in a good way," he says. From the mouths of babes...

*Some of that common sense seems to have rubbed off on mainstream boy candy Romeo, who's frequently accused of being more than just good friends with former B2K'er Omarion. He said of d*ckless wonder Ja Rule's homohate rant: "It was ignorant of him to say. Gays are everywhere. That’s not changing. I have a few friends who are gay and why not? They alright with me."

*But Shawn and Marlon Wayans want to know: "how are we gay?" Well boys, I close my eyes, and...

*I don't do American Idol, so this was the first I'd seen or heard of Adam Lambert. I must say, he keeps good company. Can I join your gang, Adam?

*Major Hollywood stars can do it, but apparently, it's a no-no for some actors on those archaic US soaps: Chris Engen resigns after refusing to kiss Yani Gellman. (Looking at the two of them, you'd have thought it would be the other way around. Yummy Gellman is interviewed at Out.com.)

*Usually, they all look the same, don't they? Not for North American mockingbirds - they can tell us apart, and woe betide any man (or woman) who's messed with their nest.

*At least they're not flying upside down and back-to-front, like this character.

*Gawd almighty - new kids on the block, and they ain't all pretty. The transparent Dracula fish has fangs, and then there's the "flesh-eating ghost slug". Most eye-popping of all is the truly bizarre Macropinna microstoma - it's head alone is transparent, inside of which float its eyes. Spectacular.

*Is spite right? I'm a big fan of spite, and it turns out that it might be "our best weapon in maintaining a fair and ordered society". At least, that's what some boffins think.

*Creativity closely linked with intelligence.

*When I was a child, I used to give myself headaches thinking about what was beyond the universe. If the universe is a finite thing, then what is it in? Think about it, but not for too long, because you'll get a headache too. In any case, boffins think the universe is flat. Well, there's a 67 per cent probability that it is.

*Lazy people who rely on GPS (in SatNav and on their iPhones, for example) will be up the creek without a paddle with the GPS system being close to collapse. Be afraid.

*Remember when Vila and Avon used Orac to beat the house and walk away with a fortune? No? As it happens, it turns out that late 1970s episode of Blake's 7 was an accurate prediction of the future - poker is one of "Nine games computers are ruining for humanity" (happily, my beloved Transport Tycoon isn't on the list).

*One in ten men are on the brink of alcoholism.

*A HIV saliva test in 20 minutes, and a HIV vaccine that turns muscles into factories for churning out antibodies which kill the virus. Meanwhile, the spread of HIV through Europe has been mapped out - and it followed holiday routes...

*Boiling brains, exploding skulls and spontaneous human combustion: meet the team who set fire to corpses in a range of different circumstances, to work out exactly how the human body burns.

*Banning the plastic bag in China has saved the equivalent of 1.6 million tonnes of oil.

*Turmeric: the spice of life?

*A glowing phone!

*Really old wallpaper!

*YouTube attacked by porn!

*Bush scoops poop!

*Clinton rescues Haiti!

*Music's biggest egos - which quote makes you feel most sick?

*Speaking of which, Bette Midler on 50 Cent: "He has really made my life worth living."

*Pick Up The Mic: a documentary about the (r)evolution of homohop, starring Deadlee, Tori Fixx, QBoy and more...

*On the stage: "two naked black men simulating oral and anal sex". Now that's my kinda theatre!

*Matthew Rush teaches Francois Sagat to make paper planes. Sadly, their scene for Titan is a watersports scene. Why oh why did they have to go and spoil a perfect pairing?

*Michael Lucas films an entire hardcore porn scene in a subway car - while it's in service! Better still, one of the models is ka-ostheory favourite Rafael Alencar.

*Sherlock Holmes gets the thumbs up; The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus gets slated.

*Sky1 axes Gladiators. I don't actually care, I only mention it because it means I can put up pictures of David McIntosh, a.k.a. Tornado.

*The Apprentice is renowned for bringing the most appalling examples of humanity to our screens. Just imagine what it would be like if Siralan's apprentices were TEENAGERS! Too horrible to be true? Probably. Is it going to happen? It looks like it.

*Coming soon: Treme, an "allegorical drama" from the creator of The Wire.

*Maria Amelia Lopez, the world's oldest blogger, 1911-2009.

ISSUE 10

On the cover: Henry Watkins

8

A 17 YEAR-OLD BOY has been stabbed to death in Hackney, East London.

Jahmal Mason-Blair was found in the street by police around midnight.

He is the eighth boy to die violently this year. 28 teenage boys died violently in 2008.

This article will be updated when further information becomes available.

*Last updated 15:14hrs 23/05/09.

VIEW ALL: Teenagers Who Died Before They Lived

ELSEWHERE - Youth footballer killed in street

PREVIOUSLY - How Do You Get Inside The Head Of A 16-Year Old Knife Wielding Thug?

DON'T BOTTLE IT?

SOME TIME AGO, I read something about wine coming in plastic bottles.

Despite the fact that glass is easily recyclable, and plastic isn't, this was hailed as environmentally friendly (something to do with the shipping it around the world).

Today, I stumbled into my local Morrisons, randomly stamping on small children and shoving old people aside as I desperately tried to reach the liquor aisle. Scanning the shelves for that enticing Half Price (or better still, the relatively new gambit, Better Than Half Price) sign, my bloodshot eyes somehow alighted on this new fangled contrivance - wine in a carton.

It's new - yes, it is new (as the Fat Fighters woman in Little Britain says). In fact, it says on the side of the carton Why Should I Try This New Pack? Top of the list of reasons it gives (before "Environmentally Friendly", to entice the guilt-ridden middle class people; and "Wine Quality", to ease the suspicions of people used to their wine coming in glass) is Value For Money. Yes, these tetrapaks hold an entire litre of wine, not just a miserly 75cls! Oh, and the picture on the front is reassuringly olde worlde, where as we all know everything was Done Properly And Was Quality.

I've yet to taste this Italian Pinot Grigio; I'm sipping a Baileys over ice as I write this, despite the fact it makes me feel sick and gives me a headache.

Is the wine-in-a-box unique to the UK, or have global, wine-guzzling ka-os|theory readers seen this phenomena in their own liqour purveyors?

LENSED

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING

THIS IS WHAT'S needed for the weekend: shirtless boy candy parading around. We've seen Tanz before, and God damn, we'll see more of him again. More of Tanz at Red Models New York (link below). EVERYTHING LENSED PREVIOUSLY - LENSED: TANZ ELSEWHERE - TRASH TALKIN'

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IMAGE IS EVERYTHING

BRYCE DRAPER, LENSED by Tony Duran. ka-ostheory will shortly break some very exciting, exclusive news, about some absent friends - who most of you have been missing - but for now, I've been sworn to secrecy. Stay tuned. EVERYTHING LENSED ELSEWHERE - MAJOR MODEL MANAGEMENT N.Y.C.

LENSED

IMAGE IS EVERYTHING

DOMINIQUE HOLLINGTON, LENSED by William Lords. There's been a few changes here at ka-os|theory. Being a bitter, grudge-bearing individual, I've taken the axe to all the selfish, parasitical bloggers on my link list who ain't returning the love. If I ain't worth mentioning, neither are you. So there. (And if you've got me on your link list, and I don't have you on mine, it's almost certainly an oversight. Let me know by contacting me at ka-os@hotmail.co.uk or send a message to my Facebook - link in the righthand column). EVERYTHING LENSED ELSEWHERE - red models new york

GIVE ME THE CABINET... AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE MAN

THIS CABINET IS called Tout Va Bien.

That means "everything is going well". I know this because I Googled it.

Suffice it to say, I'd sell a close relative to get my hands on this. It was designed by graphic designers Antoine Audiau and Manuel Warosz for furniture brand BD Barcelona Design and presented at Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan. BD Barcelona Design say: "Rarely does a graphic designer (two, in this case) go into the field of furniture design. We have to go far back in time to find them, to the times of the high and low reliefs. This is exactly what Antoine Audiau and Manuel Warosz have done, a couple of extraordinary Parisian graphic artists who sign their works as Antoine + Manuel. The cabinet they have designed for this new collection brought out by Bd Barcelona design is a surprising mixture of arts and Crafts, hieroglyphic language, contemporary graphics, fantasy and optimism. It is produced with the quality of yesteryear but using today’s technologies in two versions, Basic and Top, distinguished by the shape of the top and because the more exclusive option also offers the possibility of choosing the colour in accordance to the RAL colour references." A surprising mixture of arts and Crafts, hieroglyphic language, contemporary graphics, fantasy and optimism, huh? Works for me.

PREVIOUSLY - GIVE ME THE TABLE... AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE MAN

PREVIOUSLY - GEM KILLED IN FREAK ACCIDENT

ELSEWHERE - Dezeen: Tout Va Bien cabinet by Antoine Audiau and Manuel Warosz

MAXWELL IS BACK

WE'VE BEEN WAITING for 8 years, and boy, it's been worth it.

Pretty Wings is the first single from the album BLACKsummers'night, released on 7th July.

It's spellbindingly beautiful. "[A] lot of my absence was based on just going out to get life experience, becoming a man. In your twenties you are just a sketch of what you're trying to be," Maxwell said at an an album listening party in Beverly Hills last week.

ELSEWHERE - Will Maxwell's New Conservative Look Lose Him Some Fans?

PREVIOUSLY - F*** Your Art, I Wanna See Your Ass: The Curse Of Untitled

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IMAGE IS EVERYTHING

EXCLUSIVE NEW IMAGES from our friends at Urban Shotz. Say hello to Wilmoth, who looks jolly good with his shirt off (this manikin features Realistic Extra Articulated Abdominals) and Kyle Lewis, whose sister is that bird off X Factor what the Americans like. More of both lads at Urban Shotz. EVERYTHING LENSED ELSEWHERE - URBAN SHOTZ PHOTOGRAPHY