THE INSIDER Who’s getting up to what
Mario Testino cuts some rug
Snap happy
I insider loves Mario Testino. At an exclusive party held in his honour at the Dean Gallery in Edinburgh, the charisrriatic fashion photographer was on fine form. Dressed in a kilt. replaCing the sporran wrth a camera (nice touch, cocks eye vrew. etci. he more than mingled With the masses. Dancrng. drinking plenty of cocktails. chatting up the bar stall, tlir'ting . he was p<)Sitively charrriing. A person after Insider's own heart. How refreshing. Mario posed fOr photographs; and took photographs for other people. But when he posed for a snap wrth a (.13! member of staff. Insider noticed he took the liberty of grvrng her cheek (not faCiaI) a quick squeeze. But Testino's antics more than made up for the low celeh count. The rumours that we would be miXing wrth royalty in the form of Camilla Parker-
The Front
THE QUOTES ‘I don’t want to look ugly. I want to be beautiful. I’m not Liz Hurley, I know, but you try and hold on to
what you have.’ f.".i(‘()l' [7771‘7~;\\\’;\‘:=)I:; ‘1‘:\\~/i fur.
W'irr‘r‘er‘.’ .r'wa 'ie' ‘I had the pills in one hand and a glass of water in the other.’
{fa/0' Charles .‘r‘a'arr‘, .‘t‘ie '.'. ’Trt l'..iri.'s to he .‘i i‘vr'l/ri i'iarre" iioiighir‘t; arse cheat. 'e<7.'ii'i’s the rrrornent i'. hen the sound at .i tei.‘ message .irri; hi; friir."
his daughter prevented his satin/e
‘I’m stone broke having lost everything through gambling. I’ve been living on water for the past month.’ Yuk/hart; Aka/nine explains I‘M“. he attempted .‘o roh .i hank and not: the p/an far/ed when he tit)ii’.’i/i:.i *d with hunger.
‘He’s a punk. Never ever will I work with him again.’
Looks like Roman f’o/anskr it’on't he calling on the sen/ices of Adrien Brody for The Pianist 1’.
Bowles turned out to he iust that. But Insider did spot Ian Rankin. Fred MacAulay and the lovely Claire
Grogan liiiiiiiii_ yuiiiiiiyi. At the end of the night and perhaps after one cocktail too many. Testino urged us all to get on the dancefloor for the last dance. Which we all did of course. Insider ran into him again the next morning and his
head was indeed on the fragile Side.
I It's not rust so called ‘fine art' that gets to play it hiin hiow ryes. there is such a thing iii the (:oiiiics hook sphere. tooi, Insider notes with much pleasure something called COMICA. (IOMKZA is to he the first of a series of annual events looking at the iiiterri.'itiorial cori‘it‘s scene. Initially to he hosted hy the ICA in I oridon on 26 June. the exent will lIl(‘ltI(l(l‘ talks iall thc at this date» with the likes of Chris Ware (Jr/rirrti' (Iorrrgan‘i. Sophie Crumb ldaugliter ot Hoheiti, Neil Garriian. Dave McKean. [)ame Darcy. Charles Burns and Daniel Johnston
Kurt Cobain was a big farii. and wrll feature exhihition and digital strands. live music and workshops. Insider is hooking a ticket now.
I Just as we get to see X Men 2. the latest in what looks likely to he a very long line of Marvel Comics film adaptations. rt has come to Insider's attention that Marvels founding father Stan Lee is taking the comics coriipany to court wrth a 810m lawsuit. Lee. who co-created With artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko the titles The X n Men, The Amazing Spider- Man. Daredewt The Hu/k and The Fantastic Fer/r rail of which are hecoriiing film franchises). has accused Marvel of reneging on its contract which pays lllfl‘ Sim yearly to he the company figurehead spokesperson, as well as 10% ol the profits from film Or televrsion adaptations of the comic titles. Lee’s attorney says Stan the Man, as his client is known in
Insider would like to introduce a new, occasional feature, ‘Authors who Look Like their Pets’, kicking off with Anita Burgh, author of The Wsitor, and her mutt.
‘Just the other month we were making love and Jack pulled a muscle in his bum.’ Kyrn Marsh reve.'i/s far too much ahout riiarrta/ re/ations With her we// narned hushand, Mr Ryder.
comic circles. decided on litigation after Marvel executives told him they expected to receive no profits whatsoever from the Spider—Man lllfll, lnsider's with lee in thinking that’s
‘l’ve been around the world 15 fucking times and I’ve seen every single thing there is to see. I’m growing out of this pop star malarkey.’
Noel Gallagher raises spirits hy threatening to unplug his Union Jack guitar for the last trrne and stay indoors.
so much hullcrap. However, Lee's herng a little naive too: its almost standard practice in Hollywood to erriploy a great deal of creative accounting to make the profits from smash hit movres vanish, earning
nothing for anyone wanting a cut of the cash. Why shouldn't Marvel, an entertainment corporation little different from a Hollywood film studio. not indulge in the same practice? Or riiayhe Marvel really has nothing left from the S8()()m and counting Spider'- Man has grossed so tar.
I Meanwhile. as the X2 puhlic feeding frenzy gets underway ion 1:3 April an onlirie glohal chat With the film's cast went out to slathering fans in 913 countriesi. Insider notes With interest soriiething called Free Comic Book Day has been timed to coinCide wrth X2's release. On 3 May comic hooks shops around the world will he giving away a numher of titles including film tie-iii U/trrnate X-Men, Actually. this IS the second Free COII‘IC Book Day; last year over 2.5 million comics were given away to readers worldwide. Quiet a nice idea. really Should help get kids away from those game consoles that destroy their tiny minds.
Noel's house party?
2.: Apr-8 Ma, 27.3 THE LIST 9