High fashion’s annual takeover of New York City - the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week (ed note: http://www.mbfashionweek.com/) -  begins September 8, but we already have a taste of what to expect. Seen over at Suckerpunch (ed note: http://www.suckerpunchdaily.com/2011/08/19/nicola-formichetti-store-boffo/), Gage/Clemenceau Architects is collaborating with Lady Gaga’s Fashion Director, Nicola Formichetti, on a temporary installation set to coincide with Fashion Week. The ambitious installation, which will be open to the public and include some original ensambles designed for Lady Gaga, looks like exploding glass suspended in mid-air, a far cry from the usual minimalism of the high fashion runway. Click past the jump for a few specs of the installation, and check out Suckerpunch for more pictures and an interview with the architects. 

How many productive hours lost a year to Solitaire on Windows? How many quiet cheers when the four quarters of the deck bounce all over your screen? Though we may be using Macs more often these days and have to suffer through the indignity of actually downloading a copy of Solitaire (don’t do it, you’ll probably end up fired), we admit it: we miss those bouncing cards. The Norwegian design team of Skrekkøgle - Lars Marcus Vedeler and Theo Tveterås - captured the joy of those cascading cards, seen over at Colossal (thisiscolossal.com) in their three dimensional sculpture, “Solitaire Win.” From the looks of it, it was far from easy. See how they achieved the optical illusion after the jump, and get to know the rest of their work at their website (http://www.skrekkogle.com/)

Ed. Note: each picture here will be an individual page. Page views are good.

They cut out over 1000 cards from black foam board. 

Each card was customized and taped together.

They explain that the final product comes out looking a bit different in order to better display all the cards.

A piece in progress.

Experts at Collins Dictionary in England have compiled a list of words, seen over at the Guardian, they expect to go extinct, if the words already haven’t, sometime soon. We cry foul at Flavorwire. Some excellent words stick out on this endangered list. Aerodrome; just say it aloud. The way it puckers your lips is a pure pleasure. And who doesn’t know a wittol, a man who tolerates his wife’s infidelity. What are we supposed to call that guy now? Succedaneum means something used as a substitute, perhaps as in “that wittol’s wife uses the aerodrome manager as a succedaneum for her husband.” Sound off in the comments which of these words you would miss, or just start using them in conversation. Together, we can save cyclogiro!

We lionize the artists we love; we just can’t help ourselves. We ignore the faults, focus on the good, and craft our own version of those artists as it suits us. This is all well and good when it’s just mental aerobics; no one will fault you for your private imagination. But what about when we take pen to paper and craft a fictional version of that artist? This is where it gets dangerous. Woody Allen went farther than perhaps anyone else this summer in Midnight in Paris. He crafted fictional, shallow, crudely-drawn caricatures of nearly every member of the Lost Generation. Sure, there was some point about nostalgia and Woody Allen’s stand-in Owen Wilson landing a gorgeous 20-year-old French girl, but Adrian Brody’s useless Salvador Dali was just too much to stomach. 

After the jump, we’ll take a look at some of the high and lowlights of fictional versions of some of our favorites. 

Shakespeare from Shakespeare in Love

Let’s make this quick. The Bard was not the handsome dude you see above. Romeo and Juliet - like many of Shakespeare’s plays - was cribbed from an earlier piece (in this case an italian story transcribed and translated by the poet Arthur Brooke). Romeo and Juliet was written well into Shakespeare’s career, not before The Twelfth Night, as the movie might have you believe. Shakespeare wasn’t poor by that stage in his career, either. Queen Elizabeth would never show up at a public theater. Most importantly, Gwyneth Paltrow, God love her: still not British. 

H.G. Wells in Time After Time

H.G. Wells. The man basically birthed science fiction. Time after Time, which we will allow a few contrivances, has H.G. Wells actually inventing a time machine. Shockingly (here comes the plot!) Jack the Ripper steals the time machine and heads to 1970’s San Francisco. Herbert does his right honorable British duty and follows Jack into the future, which H.G. believes will be a socialist utopia. Funny thing, that. Between hunting down Jack and marrying Mary Steenburgen, Herbert finds time to explore this awe-inspiring future. Where does Time After Time lead the inventor of an entire genre of literature? What prophecies of his come true? What wonders does he explore? McDonald’s. Yes, McDonald’s. H.G. Wells goes to McDonald’s. Travel through time on a heap of golden tubes, but we refuse to believe that H.G. Wells would go to McDonald’s.

Mark Twain in Star Trek: The Next Generation

A time travel plot too convoluted to explain lands the crew of the Enterprise in 1893. They run into none other than the father of American literature, Mark Twain. Samuel manages to rescue the captain, avert a temporal paradox, and be charming all at once. In fact, Jerry Hardin’s portrayal of Mark Twain was so convincing he went on to perform in a one-man stage show after the episode aired. So Mark Twain probably didn’t travel forward in time to hang out with the crew of the Enterprise, but this Mark Twain is true to the spirit of the author. More than we can say about the next abomination in this list.

Dante Alighieri in Dante’s Inferno

Yes, we dipped into video games. No, there’s not much hope for accurate renditions of, well, anything in that medium. But turning one of Western literature’s finest poets into a scythe-wielding demon-slaying crusader? And turning Beatrice into Dante’s actual wife and not the muse that she was? What is the point of any of this? We can only hope (pray?) that the makers of this game are lodged in some circle of hell reserved for vandalism. 

Marshall McLuhan in Annie Hall

Woody Allen once did it right. The justifiably famous scene in Annie Hall has Allen trot out media theorist and critic Marshall McLuhan to quiet down an overloud blowhard behind Allen in line. McLuhan whips out his famous line: “You know nothing of my work.” McLuhan commonly used that line to combat his critics and detractors. Besides Marshall McLuhan being tucked behind a placard at Allen’s disposal, Allen gets McLuhan just about right here. It helps that McLuhan is on screen for all of 14 seconds though. Hard to mess that up.

Susan Orleans and Charlie Kaufman in Adaptation

At least here, we can blame Charlie’s fictional brother Donald for putting Susan and LaRouche in bed together. Or do we blame Charlie? Or Susan Orleans and her unadaptable book The Orchard Thief? Or our own expectations? More than any other fictionalized artists in this list, it can be said that these fictionalized versions served a purpose beyond lionizing the writers we love (hell, Charlie Kaufman detests himself). The real Charlie Kaufman’s adaptation of Susan Orleans’ The Orchard Thief and his inclusion of himself and the author in his adaptation highlight the problems and virtues of turning reality into fiction. All it took was a mind-bending Charlie Kaufman penned flick to figure that out. 

Top 10 Shows You Should Have Watched (But Didn’t)

Let’s be honest, you can’t keep up. No one can. There’s too much culture for one person - even the most heroic tweeting, tumbling, stumbling internet maven - to keep up with. Especially television, our favorite non-interactive lay-back-and-enjoy-it medium: new shows pop in and out of existence every season (summer and fall) only to fall down the memory hole. And we can’t forget the Brits and our neighbors to the North. They’ve provided more than The Office and Degrassi. Fortunately, the miracle of the Internet has provided us numerous methods for catching up with these lost classics (in between catching up with last night’s True Blood, of course). 

10. Sports Night

Aaron Sorkin’s first venture into television was not nearly as successful as his second (The West Wing) and not nearly as memorable as his third, if only for its legendary flame-out (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip). But the core of Sorkin was there: talking while walking, intelligent, complicated characters, and a heavy dose of moralizing. Sports Night manages to strike a middle ground between The West Wing’s bombast and Studio 60’s complete lack of comedy; these characters know they’re a sports show and they do that well. It just so happens they’re also interesting compelling characters. But hey, don’t trust me. TV Guide christened it the best show you’re not watching its inaugural season. No better authority than TV Guide…

9. The Booth at the End

Now available on Hulu Plus, The Booth at the End is Canada’s entry in this list. Xander Berkley plays a mysterious stranger who sits in a diner…wait for it…in the booth at the end. The premise of each 5 minute episode (collected into 23 minutes episodes for Hulu) is simple: a character asks Berkley to grant him or her a wish. Berkley has it within his power to grant the wish as long as one task is performed. This could be robbing a bank, killing someone, or protecting someone from death. The show’s threads quickly get entangled: one character is tasked to kill a little girl another is tasked to protect, for example. An excellent cast, quick pacing, and only one season of tightly packed writing make for a show you really ought to have caught (I’m looking at you, Winnipeggers). 

8. Home Movies

Before Brendon Small lived out his metal fantasies on Metalocalypse, he created Home Movies, our twee entry. Too smart, too adorable, but not in the least bit talented, the kids in Home Movies are too innocent to hate. We can’t blame you for missing this one; it bounced from UPN to Cartoon Network and was cancelled as Adult Swim’s content took a more absurdist tilt. But the talent on display here is astounding: you’ll notice the late Mitch Hedberg making a few appearances, H. Jon Benjamin (better known as Archer these days) voices Coach McGuirk, and a cavalcade of memorable characters round out the cast. But more than anything, this show taps into the nostalgic sweetness of childhood. I don’t need to watch Nickelodeon reruns for that - I’ll take Home Movies. 

7. The Inbetweeners

One universal truth: being a teenager sucked. Being a teenager at a new school sucked even more. Aired on the UK’s E4 (also home to Skins) and now available on YouTube, The Inbetweeners manages to capture the despair of being a shit teenager while allowing room for a main character to puke on his crush’s little brother. The show follows a recent transplant to Rudge Park Comprehensive, Will McKenzie, and his three new friends as they manage to screw up their every last attempt at everything. Maybe its just the British accents that do it for me. Or maybe its that I’m too easily reminded of being in high school. I just pray MTV doesn’t decide to ruin this British import like it did Skins. 

6. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Stay with me on this. Sure it lasted for seven seasons and you probably caught it late night after its syndication, but DS9 (yes I’m going to abbreviate like a Trekkie) is a cut above the usual Star Trek fare. Set aboard the titular space station, the static location allowed for political intrigue and continuing storylines, eventually becoming a serial in all but name by the final season. The ensamble cast of veteran actors (including Michael Dorn - Worf - from Star Trek: The Next Generation) supplied the necessary heft to pull of the plotlines. Moreover, the show abandoned the notion of the Federation as a force for pure good in the universe, revealing the dark underbelly of the organization that no other show in the Star Trek universe showed. 

5. Terriers.

Yes, shows being cancelled after one season is terrible. But at least they never go bad. Terriers on FX is a prime example. Created by a former writer on The Shield, the show pairs up ex-cop Hank Dolworth (Donal Logue from Grounded for Life) with his best friend Britt (Michael Raymond-James; Rene from True Blood; remember, season 1? Killed any and all fang-bangers?), an ex-felon. Critics loved it at the time, as it made a number of year end lists. But FX did hardly a thing to promote it so you’re forced to find it on DVD.

4. The Larry Sanders Show

The great Netflix revival allows us saps without HBO in the 90s to waste a few weeks indulging in the most important television comedy of the 90s: The Larry Sanders Show. It set the standard for every single camera comedy to follow (Arrested Development, Community) and nurtured a rogue’s gallery of talent: Bob Odenkirk, Sarah Silverman, Janeane Garofalo, Judd Apatow. Now that it’s available streaming on Netflix, you have no earthly excuse not to watch. 

3. Firefly

Joss Whedon’s cult hit was moved around to about half a dozen different timeslots during its run in addition to being aired out of order. A justifiably incensed fanbase got riled up enough to get a movie - Serenity - made post-cancellation. Another case where cancellation, though leaving a bad taste, ensures we always look back on a show with fondness. Firefly created its own universe, its own language, and its own style in one short season. Stream it and realize why Nathan Fillion and Summer Glau keep getting work. 

2. Misfits

So I’m cheating here. You still have a chance to catch up with Misfits, as it’s still on the air and going strong. Imported with some lag from the BBC, Misfits chronicles five young offenders in London who receive supernatural powers after an electrical storm. Hokey enough, but the combination of youth, superhuman abilities, and alienation is potent. We have a mind-bending time-travel episode (is there a better way to describe a time-travel episode?), pitch-perfect humor, and superhuman people doing superhuman things. And a mystery. And they’re British. Just watch it.

1. Deadwood

The world is slowly catching up. It’s a damn shame it took us so long. Go now and put the three seasons of Deadwood at the top of your DVD queue. You’ll curse HBO when it’s over. Simply the finest piece of television ever put to screen. Ian McShane as Al Swearengen is titanic and the purest distillation of capitalism (with all its warts) we’ve seen. David Milch’s writing is precise, honed, and smart. You cannot have Deadwood on in the background. It demands every moment of your attention and rewards it. And you’ve never heard the word “cocksucker” used so artfully so many times.