Australian Penthouse

Hi everyone!

If you want to see me live in action and buy a signed magazine or poster or even have a sexy lap dance with me, I’m gonna be doing a little bit of featuring over the next few months.

From March 10th-14th during the Clipsal 500 you can see me at The Palace on Hindley Street, Adelaide. I’ll be there very night except Saturday, so come in and say hi!

In April I’ll be heading back to Christchurch NZ to shake my booty on stage at Calendar Girls from the 7th til the 10th. Hope to see you there!

In other news, I have a bit of a different look these days… I’ve got blonde hair now. Well, it’s dark blonde but it’ll be platinum soon. I love it!

Ashlee Adams

xox

P.S. Check out my website, www.queenashlee.com. I write stuff and sometimes I post free nudes

REALITY BITES

Australian artist Ben Frost creates art that entertains as much as it aggravates.  And that suits him just fine…

Interview:  Kate Hutchinson

What inspired you to become an artist?
“It’s better than a normal job—and I can nap whenever I feel like it.”

What would you do for a buck if you couldn’t make art?
“I would probably be the guy in the factory who tests disposable lighters.”

What’s behind the style of art you create?
“I believe that any creative endeavour is about trying to process and figure out the world around us. I’m still trying to come to terms with how saturated we all are with advertising, television, the media, and what this means for our society. I don’t pretend that I’ve come up with any answers, but being able to critically assess how we live and why we’re so obsessed with ridiculous things like Britney Spears and Fly-Buys, is my main motivation.”

What have you been working on recently?
“Lately I’ve been working a lot with artists on Stupidkrap.com, the art portal I run.  It’s always funny when I call  a new supplier or client, and say: “Hi, I’m calling from Stupidkrap..”, the irony is quite delicious. We make prints and help promote Australian artists in exhibitions and projects, mostly out of Sydney, but also in other States as well.”

How do you stay inspired?
“I spend a lot of time trawling the Internet and in second-hand book stores looking for bizarre images that I can find new ways to subvert.  In my art practice, I’m only as good as the images I can find to work with,  so I have to be constantly updating my library of pictures to keep it fresh.

“I have boxes and boxes of strange old magazines I bought on Ebay and scraps of packaging I found on the street somewhere.  I love going through the supermarket aisles and buying products based entirely on the merit of its packaging design–it’s totally inspiring. The packaging on the Ratsak box is my favourite; I always look at it when I visit the supermarket, even though I don’t have rodent problems.”

Do you have other interests, outside of art?
“I sing in a punk band when we have time to rehearse and do gigs.  I also like watching really bad movies.”

What can we expect from you this year?
“More exhibitions closer to home. I have shows planned in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. You can get updates on my exhibitions by joining the mailing list at my website: www.benfrostisdead.com”

What do you think makes your work popular?

“I make Pop Art, so there’s heavy use of popular imagery in my work that most people can instantly recognise. I think people also enjoy seeing their favourite—or least favourite—icons and logos manipulated and subverted to create new dialogues that you [otherwise] wouldn’t get to see.

“Pop Art [offers] a way to ‘take the power back’, because you can have some control over the images that companies and the media are always  ramming down our throats.  You can take these images and characters and alter them to show the kind of twisted things they probably do behind the scene—like Astroboy giving you the finger, Pluto and Goofy doing it doggy-style, or Bambi giving birth to a stream of baby Bambis.”

Didn’t some guy slash one of your paintings at a recent exhibition?
“I’ve made a few paintings that speak too directly for some people to be able to process.  I did a painting of two children preparing to shoot up drugs in an idyllic setting, with an aeroplane crashing in the background.  The piece was displayed in an area of Brisbane where there was a marked increase in the use of intravenous drugs by younger people, and it caused some controversy but at the same time it also created healthy discussion about the context of what [the painting] means and [why] it was displayed [there].

“I think many people are frightened of the reality of their own environment, and rather than try to do something to change it, they compensate by being overly critical of people who are trying to express what is staring them in the face.”

Is there a specific piece that you are especially proud of?
“I’ve always really liked the painting ‘Kmart After Dark’.  It was one of the first paintings I made when I returned [to Australia, in 2005] after living in Tokyo, and I feel like it captures the frenetic and fluoro energy of what it’s like to walk through Shibuya—or Kmart, for that matter.”

Do you have a favourite gallery to exhibit your work?
“The solo show I did at Brooklynite Gallery in New York [in June 2009], is definitely my favourite. It’s in this intense section of Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, and there’s this great grassed area out the back where DJs play and you can continue [viewing] artwork from the gallery space inside through to the outdoors.”

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
“Hopefully, I will have made the ultimate painting that will end world hunger, prompt world peace, and help Brad and Angelina work out any difficulties with Jennifer Aniston.”

See more of Ben’s work at: http://www.benfrostisdead.com

YELLOWBEARD (1983)
Director:  Mel Damski
Stars:  Graham Chapman, Peter Boyle, Peter Cook, John Cleese
Orion/Shock

Review:  Suzan Ryam

THE LOWDOWN

Yellowbeard (Chapman) is the ultimate pirate, a scurvy shyster who feasts on the hearts of his enemies and then forces them to eat their own lips; a crazed man feared by all who travel the high seas.

After 20 years of imprisonment for tax evasion, Yellowbeard escapes to reclaim his buried treasure, but is pursued relentlessly by the Royal Navy and numerous, dubious adversaries (Cleese, Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Marty Feldman, Spike Milligan).

However, fate intervenes when Yellowbeard visits a wench (Madeline Kahn) only to discover that, 18 years ago, she birthed him an illegitimate son, the fey Dan (Martin Hewitt), whose head she had tattooed with the map to the pirate’s long-lost  treasure.

Yellowbeard is forced to protect the bookish son he despises, avoid capture, and locate his buried treasure, discovering on the way the true bond of a father-son relationship.

NUTS AND BOLTS

Written by comedy legends Graham Chapman (The Life Of Brian) and Peter Cook (Bedazzled, Derek And Clive Get The Horn), Yellowbeard is a classic example of the kind of madcap comedy made famous by the Monty Python team, and is superbly augmented with the addition of American comedy masters such as Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, and Cheech and Chong.

Regularly cited by fans as the funniest genre movie ever made, Yellowbeard combines a masterful blend of wit, plot, cast and timing to create one of the most revered comedies of the modern era.

The movie remains buoyant via cleverly paced witticisms and superb turns by the peerless Peter Cook, as the inestimably clueless Lord Lambourn; Graham Chapman as the rape-happy, smoking-haired titular pirate; James Mason as the fumbling Captain Hughes (companion to Texta-moustached crew member ‘Mr Prostitute’); Cheech Marin as the sycophantic subject to spit-flinging Spanish King El Nebuloso (Tommy Chong), “Yes sir, your arseholiness!”; and John Cleese as Harvey ‘Blind’ Pew, the Queen’s visually-impaired, sharp-eared spy.

DVD EXTRAS

Extras consist of the original movie trailer: both disappointing and insulting considering the wealth of information and extras provided on the Monty Python movies and the fame and status of the cast.

VERDICT

Yellowbeard should see you crawl, crawl, stagger, stagger to your nearest DVD store for a dose of classic comedy.

PANDORUM
Director:  Christian Alvart
Stars:  Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cung Le, Antje Traue
Icon

Review:  Suzan Ryan

PANDORUM is a refreshingly edgy, dark sci-fi thriller that doesn’t quit. The tension is artfully applied to keep you guessing (and stressing) through every minute.

Pandorum affects brain and body functions in a way that is similar to the bends experienced by deep-sea divers—it is a rare yet decimating side-effect of space ‘hyper-sleep’, where temporary memory loss combines with feelings of paranoia and disorientation, which if untreated, results in a descent into madness.

In this instance, Earth’s final survivors travel into deep space aboard the Elysium, a supership carrying a Noah’s Ark of species and humanity hoping to start again on a distant world called Tanis.  Astronauts Payton (Quaid) and Bower (Foster) awaken in a locked hyper-sleep chamber without their short-term memory.

Payton remains while Bower crawls through the ventilation to attempt contact with the crew, only to find the ship’s reactor failing, the decks empty and the ship crawling with creatures that have replaced humans at the top of the food chain.

Employing elements of fear and paranoia done so successfully in movies such as Event Horizon and Aliens (thanks to co-producer Paul WS Anderson), Pandorum is a taut thriller that will reward investigation.

A PROPHET
Director:  Jacques Audiard
Stars:  Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif
Sony

Review:  Suzan Ryan

IT’S obvious why this French film won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival; it’s a corker.  Forget Hollywood’s overly polished prison dramas, this is the real deal: a character study of 19-year-old Malik El Djebena (a riveting performance by newcomer Rahim), sentenced to a six-year stint inside that charts his progression from naïve boy to wary and wily man via the decisions he makes, the alliances he creates, the mistakes he must deal with and, finally, his emergence to rejoin the populace as a man transformed.

Malik is part Arab, part Corsican and accepted by neither ethnicity, instead his mixed heritage earns him the attention of César Luciani (Arestrup), head of the Corsican gang, who strong-arms the terrified Malik into murdering an Arab due to testify in an associate’s trial.  In exchange, Malik is offered protection by the Corsicans, along with the role of errand boy and general shit-kicker.  However, Malik’s unique status allows him to mix freely between gangs and allegiances, and to form his own partnerships, both inside the prison and out, with unexpected results.

Withholding judgement on the prison system, prisoners, redemption and other hokey themes, A Prophet is a mature, interesting, violent and exciting movie that will restore your enthusiasm to part with $15.

Australian Penthouse April 2010 is out now!

Get the April issue of Australian Penthouse for the latest on who’s hot and what’s happening in your world today.

THE BABES

Bathing beauty STELLA STARR;  Melbourne babe BAILEY BANKS;  Darwin hottie KEISHA;  porn megastars JANINE LINDEMULDER & KAYDEN KROSS (MAX & Black Label only);  March Pet of the Month AYVA;  beach beauty BARBORA;  sexy redhead BIANCA;  and hot couple CASSIDEY & ERIK (Black Label only).

Continue reading “Inside the March 2010 Issue” »

LAW ABIDING CITIZEN
Director:  F. Gary Gray
Stars:  Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Colm Meaney
Roadshow

Review:  Suzan Ryan

IT could have been so good.  The premise is exciting: family man and electronics whiz Clyde Shelton (Butler) is forced to watch his family murdered during a home invasion.  The devastated father looks for justice in the US courts, only to discover that one of the killers has made a deal with prosecutor Nick Rice (Foxx) to send the other guy to the chair while he gets three years.  The attorneys call it a victory, but to Shelton, it’s an abomination.

Shelton takes matters into his own hands, and after a clever and shocking series of revenge murders, he is jailed, but still the killings continue.  Rice and DA Jonas Cantrell (Bruce McGill) must stop Shelton from striking again, but first they have to discover how he is doing it from his maximum-security cell.

What begins as a fresh look at the fall of the American empire from its corrupt core of misplaced values—with an Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) inspired feel to the script, in pace and suspense—degrades into an ‘America is always right’ mawkish family-values drama that’s an insincere and as rotten as the killers.

By mid-point  you may find yourself wanting Rice and Jonas to get whacked; their vapid and ignorant posturing is nauseating, and a single-faceted performance by Foxx overshadows an understated turn by Butler, effecting bitter disappointment after such a promising start.

THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE
Director:  Steven Soderbergh
Stars: Sasha Grey, Chris Santos
ICON

Review:  Cameron Murray

YOU have to admire Steven Soderbergh for trying something different with The Girlfriend Experience.  It’s not often an Oscar-winning director (he picked up a gold statue for 2000’s Traffic) bucks the Hollywood system and goes low-budget just for the sake of experimentation.

Set in New York in the weeks leading up to the 2008 US presidential election, the movie revolves around a high-class hooker named ‘Chelsea’ (Grey) who prides herself on providing more than just sex, whether it be dinner and a movie or just an honest conversation.  Money and greed are central themes—Chelsea is looking at ways of increasing her business, her boyfriend wants more cash as a personal trainer, and her wealthy clients are worried about losing the lot in the looming Global Financial Crisis.

Soderbergh took a risk in casting porn star Sasha Grey as the film’s heroine, but she delivers an understated and beguiling performance as the confused call girl.

Although short at 74 minutes, The Girlfriend Experience effectively captures an uncertain moment in time. Unfortunately, there are no extras on the DVD, which is disappointing. An interview with Soderbergh and Grey would have been appreciated.

DEAD SNOW
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Stars: Lasse Valdal, Vegar Hoel, Charlotte Frogner
Madman

Review:  Suzan Ryan

REMINISCENT in tone to the schlock-horror heydays of Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi, Dead Snow takes the classic zombie genre movie, based around horny 20-somethings trapped in a cabin, to new heights—by introducing Nazi zombies!

With the tagline: “Eins! Zwei! Die!”, you know what to expect: tits and arse, pop-culture one-liners, and gratuitous and gory deaths.  Stocked with beer, a skidoo and raging hormones, eight Norwegian medical students prepare for a boozy weekend in the snow-capped mountains, only to realise that a secret cache of stolen gold secreted under their bungalow’s floorboards has been guarded by zombie Nazis since WWII. Sick heil!

The luckless campers’ snowbound getaway quickly becomes a hilarious splatter-fest that makes Dead Snow both an original and enjoyable thriller.

The following 3 winners receive a Darksiders pack, including 1 x Xbox 360 copy of Darksiders game + a figurine of game character WAR.

WINNERS:

J. Klotz, Balwyn North, Vic
R. Caldwell, Klemzig, S.A.
R. Wilson, Middle Camberwell, Vic

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PREPARE FOR HELL TO BREAK LOOSE!!  WIN A DARKSIDERS PACK!

Developed by Vigil Games—including founding member and legendary comic-book artist Joe Madureira (X-Men)—new action/adventure videogame Darksiders provides players the opportunity to become WAR, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Continue reading “WINNERS: Darksiders XBOX 360 game pack” »