Olympus rips off John Grider!

Local artist John Grider of Broken Crow is widely known for his cool stencil art of various creatures -- they dot the landscape of the Twin Cities and beyond in the form of amazing large-scale murals and his work has been shown in galleries world-wide. A shady recreation of Grider's bright yellow cheetah stencil series has mysteriously cropped up in a Olympus camera commercial -- a bad replica if we do say so ourselves -- and most definitely a rip off.

Grider is miffed to say the least, posting via Facebook, "HEY OLYMPUS!! YOUR VERSION OF MY ART LOOKS LIKE SHIT!!!" Agreed, John!

Watch the commercial (around the 00:39 mark) and check out the image below that compares Grider's art to the Olympus rip off. We think Olympus, at the very least, should send John some awesome camera gear to make it up to him!




Submitted by @letoilemagazine

#snowmageddon Part Deux

At some point in time, all of us have used one term or another to describe the horrible Minnesota weather, but #snowmageddon must be the most prominent one and the one that is having an unexpected revival. Local Twitterers Greg Swan and Doug Hamlin created the hashtag in 2008 in order to track the conversations surrounding the big winter storm that was about to hit Minneapolis. The hashatag came back several months ago and it was actually a subject of one of the first ever LOL/OMG posts .

Swan must have scratched his head when he saw the hashtag became a part of national news headlines this weekend. To make things even weirder, the person responsible for promoting it is President Obama himself! Makes sense - this is what his house looks like at the moment.

It is safe to assume that Obama was unaware of the existence of the hashtag, although as a native of Chicago he has seen a few snow storms in his lifetime. So, should we let him have it? Here's a fact: The Mid-Atlantic states are being hit by the the biggest winter storm in nearly 90 years, which is kind of a big deal for those unaccustomed to harsh weather conditions. So, yes, he can have it.

Submitted by@marrina.

Sexy Similarities

As you're probably already aware, Strib arts and entertainment spinoff, Vita.mn, has run a "Hotness" contest for the past three years (though technically, the first year it was a "Bachelor/Bachelorette" contest), inviting the public to submit and vote for a plethora of easy-on-the-eyes locals. The hottest of the hot walk away with a slew of cool prizes and a cover/photo spread in the popular publication, followed by a big party to celebrate. Voting is in full effect right now and runs through January 20th.

Today, it was brought to our attention that Minneapolis/St. Paul Magazine is running a very similar contest, and as a peeved Vita.mn contributor pointed out via Facebook on Tuesday, the contest has "a similar structure, similar rules, similar party, similar prizes, and it's all happening at virtually the same time." All of which is undeniably true. While the concept of a "Hottest People" contest is not technically all that original, it's still quite an eyebrow-raiser considering the notable similarities between the two and the size and scope of our local print media spectrum (i.e., not very big).

What say you? Strange coincidence or blatant rip off?

Luckily, the Twin Cities has plenty of sexy peeps to go around, so we're not exactly complaining! While we're on the subject, check out our picks for the hottest hotties in Vita.mn's contest!

Vote for peeps in the Vita.mn contest HERE

Check out the MSP contest HERE (accepting submissions until Jan 20th)

Submitted by @letoilemagazine

Copycats...or not?

A little birdie told us today that there may be yet another music feud on the horizon. Here's the scoop: Hilarious/awesome local dance/party duo Koo Koo Kanga Roo put out a music video for their song "Lava Tag" last September. Skip forward three months and guess what? Just today, Minneapolis pop-rockers, Motion City Soundtrack dropped their newest video that strangely resembles the one Koo Koo Kanga Roo released three months ago.

We are just going to point out a few obvious similarities:

-kids science fair theme
-heavily featured volcano science fair projects
-trashing science fair scene
-band members win science fair
-weirdly lit group dance scene with kids in gymnasium

What do you guys think? Is there something shady going on here or could this be a pure coincidence?

Here are both videos, for comparison:





This calls to mind certain specific similarities between Jessica Simpson's "A Public Affair" video and a 48 Hour Film made by then-local film maker Darren Roark from a few years ago.

Submitted by @marrina.

FEUD!

There is no immunity for LOL/OMG and l'etoile employees!

This afternoon, reknowned 60+ year old Minneapolis artist Frank Gaard gave l'etoile fashion editor Jahna Peloquin the smack down! Gaard left a random, unsolicited wall post on Peloquin's facebook page (the two do not know each other but are connected on Facebook), accusing her of being a narcissist due to her large collection of facebook photos. Jahna and Kate from l'etoile both responded in kind, and Gaard retorted with something about shamans. We don't know who won the sound off, but it did make us LOL!

click to enlarge

UPDATE: l'etoile culture editor Juleana Enright chimed in, joking "yeah, good lord Jahna will you please just do the world a favor and put a paper bag over your head when you go out, you narcissistic beyotch! hahaha."

submitted by @letoilemagazine

Lolly Pop vs. Lady Gaga

Local electro-pop cutie, Brooke Aldridge aka LollyPop, is making some pretty choice accusations against Pop sensation Lady Gaga. Aldridge claims that Gaga has been ripping her off for quite some time now, and the local musician finally feels she has enough evidence to blow the whistle.

Aldridge compares a 2007 Lollypop performance at the Triple Rock to Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" video, saying "Tell me the guys backing her in the vid aren't a souped up version of The Couture Club (but on crack/a funding we never had)"


She also claims "She's [Gaga] also using our marketing motif for the Monster Ball Tour, calling it 'The World's first ever Electro-Pop Opera.' We certainly weren't presumptuous or not well enough versed in music history to use "world's first", but if you look at our album as well as tour press releases and press from that time, the wording's "Electro-Pop Operetta"

To make matters stranger, Aldridge has members of famed local funk band, The Time, on her side. She says in her press release, "The Time + Prince camp agree (ironic for her since she's fan, which is probably how this all started)- the evidence is clear. Again, don't get me wrong, I do think she's a wonderful performer- I would never take that from her, but facts are facts. "

She also states that Monte (of The Time), Morris Hayes, and Matt Fink are compiling press statements about the situation and that the Prince camp is donating studio time for her to record a song about the situation.

Not much discussion seems to have surfaced on the internetz yet, but Aldridge has put up a Facebook page entitled "LOLLY POP HAS BEEN KNICKED BY LADY GAGA" that makes numerous comparisons to back up her theory.

What say you? Wingnut or Victim?

submitted by @letoilemagazine