Impressive Works of Art: Pop Culture Icons Struggling to Survive

French artist Benjamin Béchet, whose work we spotted over on My Modern Met, creates images intended to provoke a double take. In his subversive photo series, beloved childhood characters like Winnie the Pooh, Spider-Man, Hello Kitty, and Snow White are seen living in the real world and on the margins of society. They wash windows and mop floors; they sleep under overpasses; they pump gas and serve tea. Does placing these figures in roles and situations that are often overlooked (or looked away from) achieve his desired effect of making the Other visible to the viewer?

Midseason NBA Awards

MVP

LeBron James: He has dominated in every way possible so far this year. And without Wade in th lineup they are 8-1. All statistical categories are off the charts . Chris Paul is having a phenomenal year with the Clippers and the culture there is already changing, but he is not shooting the 54.8% on fg's the James is. Durant has the Thunder looking unstoppable out West, but he just is not as versatile as James. Most importantly, this guy does not miss games. There is no argument on who is the top MVP pick at this point

Runners up:
-Chris Paul
-Kevin Durant
-Kobe Bryant
-Tony Parker

Rookie of the year

Kyrie Irving: This guy is awesome in the 4th quarter for the Cavs and averages 18.3 points a game shooting 48.5 %. A shooter who drives and a scorer who passes, Irving is just the floor general to lead a comeback in Cleveland and show the Cavs that there is life after James. This not meant to take anything away from Ricky Rubio who has shown so far. He is a future star in this league who plays great defense with a lot of steals and takes charges as well.

Runners Up:
-Ricky Rubio
-Marshon Brooks
-Iman Shumpart
-Kemba Walker

Sixth Man

Lou Williams: He leads his team in scoring (15.9 ppg) while coming off the bench, and is also the go to guy in the crunch. I would have put James Hardin in the top slot if he wasnt such a liability on defense. I also like what Andre Miller gives the Nuggets with a change of pace from what Ty Lawson offers in the starting slot.

Runners Up:
-James Hardin
-Andre Miller
-Al Harrington

Defensive Player of Year

Dwight Howard: No question that as long as he is playing basketball this award will continue to go through him in most cases. The Magic have made a "down-slide" this year, but Dwight has continued with his dominance on the defensive end pulling down 15 boards a game. He makes every person who drives the lane think twice before their shot attempt ends up in the stands somewhere.


Runner up:
-Serge Ibaka
-LeBron James
-Andre Iguodala
-Tony Allen

Most Improved

Jeremy Lin: There are plenty of runner up candidates to this Lin fella... But he took the league by storm putting up elite numbers across the board, and the biggest part is the fact that they are winning games with Lin. Kyle Lowry is becoming one of the top guards in the league this year and Ryan Anderson is showing that he can light it up from long range and plays very well off of D Howard. But, Mr Lin has stepped in out of nowhere and has commanded all attention.


Runners Up:
-Kyle Lowry
-Ryan Anderson
-Andrew Bynum
-Greg Monroe

Coach of the Year

Doug Collins: Collins has the allegedly star-less Sixers playing not just like an interesting team, but the area motion running, ball sharing deep squad. They have cut out the turnovers and everyone is on the same page at this point. Collins has everyone committed in 2 years to his new philosophy he put in place. George Karl is doing what most probably would have struggled to do with the loss of their go yto guy and all the commotion that came with it. Greg Pop is doing exactly what he does about this time as well......

Runners UP:
-George Karl
-Greg Popovich
-Frank Vogel

Fake 9/11 hero admits lie; fellow firefighters furious

A South Carolina man who told his fellow firefighters he was one of the first responders on 9/11 has admitted it was a lie.

Jordan Lifander, a former Cedarhurst, Long Island volunteer firefighter, said this week that he was sorry for telling firefighters in the Palmetto State that he was a captain of FDNY's Ladder 133, which lost 12 men on Sept. 11.

"You know, once you tell one lie, you gotta keep up that lie," Lifander told CBSNewYork.com on Wednesday. "I got all caught up in the whole 9/11 anniversary and just lied. I was not a member of the FDNY, was not a captain in Ladder 133."

Lifander "did not survive the disaster any more than those of us who watched it on television," CBS 2's Lou Young wrote.

Dressed in a uniform with an FDNY patch, Lifander spoke at a 9/11 memorial service in Spartanburg, S.C., last year, telling the crowd he attended "47 funerals in three weeks for brothers who died that day." He received a standing ovation.

According to the Spartanburg Herald-Journal, current and former New York City firefighters contacted the paper on Monday saying Liflander's story was a "sham."

When contacted by the paper, he said he had been "trying to get out of the situation" and "got caught up in the moment."

"I wanted to represent what everybody was honoring that day," he said. "I told it from a New Yorker's point of view."

"It was that whole thing about portraying something I wasn't," Lifander told CBS 2. "The ego, the lie, keeping up with it, a very big mistake ... It just snowballed into something that was out of my control. I'm truly sorry for misleading and lying."

"I'm outraged," Bill Youngson, former captain of Ladder 133, told BlueRidgeNow.com. "I'm sick and tired of people standing up and telling people these stories for a little bit of glory. People have cancer, I have asthma and we paid our dues. In six months, we buried more people than you've ever seen and to read this story—this lie—it has to stop. Put that guy on the wall of shame."

"It's sad, and it's disgusting," Billy Goldfeder, deputy chief of Cincinnati's Loveland-Symms Fire Dept. who runs FirefighterCloseCalls.com, told Yahoo News. "There's nothing more sacred than a firefighter's death in the line of duty death. It doesn't get much lower than what he did."

Firefighters at Lifander's former Long Island firehouse are, understandably, livid, too.

"It's a terrible situation," Cedarhurst FD capt. John McHugh told CBS. "I feel bad for the people of South Carolina and I feel bad for the people in the whole 9/11 system."

"It happens a lot because they want to get that hero worship, people telling them 'thank you,'" former FDNY deputy chief Jim Riches added. "It's a sick mind, but he's not the only one doing it. It's out there and I think people should verify who's actually speaking to them."

It's not clear if Lifander is currently a firefighter in South Carolina. A call to Lifander's home was not immediately returned.

The only positive news to come out of this--if there is some--is that it does not appear Lifander used his faux FDNY status for financial gain.

"We've seen 9/11 imposters before, but usually in connection with attempts to defraud the 9/11 victims' compensation fund," Young wrote. "It appears that [he] was interested in glory and not money."

Goldfeder added: "Hopefully, if any good comes of this, it's that people will do some work to verify who they get to speak."

Mass Effect 3

March 6th this will be in my possession!!!

Luther Campbell Has Six Words Of Advice For Jeremy Lin

My advice to Lin: Beware the power of the coochie.

The New York Knicks and Jeremy Lin are coming to town this Thursday, February 23, to take on the Miami Heat. My advice to Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni: Lock the Asian-American sensation in his hotel room until tip-off. Now that Lin is an overnight superstar, every female groupie from South Beach to Fort Lauderdale will want to get him into bed. That's one of the benefits of being an NBA baller.

Lin isn't ready for the power of the coochie. He's no Tim Tebow. Why do I say that? First of all, Lin has a Harvard degree and Tebow got his college education at the University of Florida. That's like comparing a rocket scientist to a Honda mechanic. Also, Tebow has won a collegiate national title and the Heisman Trophy, so he's used to girls testing his decision to stay a virgin until marriage.

But Lin was just another unknown D-leaguer before breaking out this season. He's not used to the headlines and babes fawning all over him. Until recently, he was sleeping on his brother's couch and couldn't have gotten laid in Rio de Janeiro during Carnaval. Last week, I'm sure he had every fine model who strutted the catwalk during New York Fashion Week waiting for him outside Madison Square Garden.

Next thing you know, Lin will be walking through Central Park holding hands with a tall, beautiful girl who looks like Tom Brady's wife, Gisele Bundchen.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Kim Kardashian sitting courtside this Thursday night at the American Airlines Arena. She and every come-up reality show star will be the first ones to try to snag Lin. Paris Hilton is gonna run up to him at LIV and say, "Oh, Jeremy, what's up, big boy? Or something like that..."

Then two years down the road, Gisele's clone will divorce Jeremy because he has turned into a sex maniac like Tiger Woods. Lin will be on the cover of the National Enquirer, naked, at some wild orgy featuring foreign NBA players like Tony Parker and Dirk Nowitzki. And his pretty model wife will walk away with half his fortune and endorsement deals.

Play in 10 games and get a shoe deal: PRICELESS

Jeremy Lin reportedly has a new deal with Nike, sportswear giant planning to release shoe for NY Knicks’ phenom

Nike has a case of Linsanity.

The sportswear giant extended its contract with the Knicks' point guard, less than three weeks after his meteoric rise to fame, Beijing Business Today reported, in an effort to guard him from being stolen by rival companies.

SI HAS JEREMY LIN COVERED AGAIN

While the terms of the deal aren't clear, ESPN Radio reported last week that Nike planned to release a new shoe that features the Knicks' blue and orange and "Lin" on the back of the heel.

Nike will soon roll out a new promotional campaign built around Lin, industry sources told ABC News – the first of what is expected to be a parade of endorsements featuring the 23-year-old phenom.

END ZONE: JEREMY LIN IS THE KNICKS' FAITHFUL PHENOM

When reached by phone on Wednesday, Lin's agent declined to comment on the deal.

Marc Ganis, the owner of SportsCorp Ltd., told the Daily News that Nike's original deal with Lin was most likely limited, which would explain the renegotiations.

While bidding among sneaker companies for Lin could have drawn his price into the upper-seven figures if he didn't have an existing Nike deal, now it's likely that Nike will pay him between $2-4 million, he said. In addition to giving Lin a reason to stay with Nike after the locked-in period is over, it could also be a huge shot in the arm for a company that has been looking for a way to grow their market in China and Taiwain.

"You can expect he's going to be their number two poster endorser toLeBron James in China and they may promote him as the top guy (there)," he said.

Lin also gives Nike a way into a different kind of market in the United States, he said.

"(He's) given them a whole different segment of the market they can approach – the non-jock jock. The kids and the adults who are cerebral and may have Ivy League aspirations for education, but not pro aspirations for athletics – Lin gives them a unique connection to that market."

The deal comes as the Knicks and Lin's lawyers are going full force to protect his trademark rights for future Lin gear and endorsement deals.

Last week, Pamela Reese, a Washington-based lawyer filed papers to trademark Lin's name and "Linsanity" as the Knicks and the NBA said they were cracking down on counterfeit gear around the world.

"As is often the case when the demand for NBA product is high, there are counterfeiters seeking to take advantage of the current interest in Jeremy Lin," Ayal Deutsch, NBA senior vice president and chief intellectual property counsel told the Daily News in a statement earlier this week. "The NBA is pursuing enforcement - in the US, China and other countries - to address the sale of counterfeit 'Lin' jerseys and other unauthorized merchandise using NBA intellectual property. We also are coordinating with Jeremy Lin's representatives regarding their efforts to enforce against the unauthorized use of his name and image."

The undrafted point guard out of Harvard first signed with Nike before his rookie season with the Golden State Warriors.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/basketball/knicks/jeremy-lin-reportedly-a-deal-nike-sportswear-giant-planning-release-shoe-ny-knicks-phenom-article-1.1026749

J. Cole – “Grew Up Fast” | New Music