09/9/18

Is Passion Out of Fashion? The Bad Boy Charms of McQueen & McEnroe.

CoiledCorset 2004, ShaunLeaneforMcQueen.

“I want you to be repulsed or exhilarated,” Alexander McQueen offers viewers of his collection in the documentary, McQueen. “If you leave without emotion, then I’m not doing my job properly. I don’t want you to walk out feeling like you’ve just had Sunday brunch.”

You could say that Alexander McQueen and John McEnroe – born a decade and an ocean apart, pursuing distinct talents, and playing them out in completely different arenas – shared a similar passion. A zeal to be real.

With the simultaneous release of documentaries on both enfants terribles, I decided to chase down the theory one steamy summer weekend in Manhattan. (Bad boys are always persons of interest to The Male Harem.) Read more . . .

07/13/18
Photo: TheSultanette

Sex, Nudity & Handsome Strangers: Venice Biennale, Sultanette Style

Photo: TheSultanette

San Marco, straight up.

I know what you’re thinking. Is it possible for The Sultanette to post anything without the mention of sex, sex, sex? Even when the subject is the esteemed 16th International Venice Biennale of Architecture?

To that I say, isn’t it time we take sex out of the gutter? That we give it credit for more than scratching an itch in the libido? Admit that getting physical might release us from the tyranny of our brains? From those hidebound convictions, selfish inhibitions, and pious sentiments that sabotage our ability to live originally? If you don’t think architecture does that, read on. Read more . . .

11/18/17

Adultery Goes Avant-Garde In Brooklyn

Brooklyn Bridge Black Tie, Avantgardemusicnyc.

“It’s a dance performance based on the seventeenth century diary of a philanderer!” said Dr. Zhivago (Male Harem member pseudonym). “Right up The Sultanette’s alley!”

I may have philandered in an alley or three but I’m skeptical of multi-media performances. Avant-garde by nature is a contrivance. A cheeky departure from the expected. To be boldly contrived and remain artistically honest is a fine balance and I’d seen enough avant flops to prove it.

But 17c – the latest offering from Big Dance Theater at BAM’s (Brooklyn Academy of Music) Next Wave Festival had my attention. The company has been described as genre-defying (New Yorker) and genre-exploding (The New York Times). You have to love a company that creates a piece called This Page Left Intentionally Blank (2016). Read more . . .

09/29/17

How to Shatter the Glass Ceiling: Sprichst du Deutsch?

ByProjectManhattan(Own Work),CreativeCommons.

She’s worked with dudes named Wolfgang, Helmut, and Vladimir. They’ve been known to call her boring, a beta-female, and clueless. She doesn’t get mad. She gets their jobs.

She’s learned to deflect bullies and has overcome an urge to burst into tears. She was once shot at by the Taliban in a helicopter over Afghanistan and stayed cool as a cucumber.

This boring beta-babe has been in the limelight of late. Five biographies have just been published in Dutch, German, French and English.

Angela’s Office,Jurgen Matern,CreativeCommons.

As for age discrimination, at sixty-three she is in no imminent danger of losing her job. Last Sunday Angela Merkel was re-elected Chancellor of Germany – a title she has shrewdly retained since 2005. Read more . . .

08/21/17
Photo:TheSultanette

The Art of Intimacy: The Sultanette Does Dallas

Photo:TheSultanette

The Kiss, Brancusi, c1908, Nasher Sculpture Ctr.

Can The Sultanette be a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader when she grows up? Wearing barely more than white boots and a smile as big as Texas they’re worth the price of admission to AT&T Stadium. (BTW there’s a football game there, too.) But news flash!

Next time you’re in Dallas, before you join that 100,000-plus crowd to watch those buxom babes on the biggest Jumbotron in the NFL, you might take a detour to the Nasher Sculpture Center. As The Sultanette learned on a recent trip, this temple of tranquility containing one of the finest collections of twentieth century sculpture in the world, offers food for the heart, soul and libido. Read more . . .