Peep Shows

LaChapelle's photos, Victoria's Secret, and more media picks

December 6, 2005

BOOKS: If last week's overflowing book party was any indication, David LaChapelle's forthcoming photo tome, Artists & Prostitutes: 1985-2005, will sell out fast. On the eve of Art Basel, 600 people crammed Miami's Setai Club to watch a nude Amanda Lepore flip through the 690-page Taschen book (which includes the Lil' Kim portrait above). At $1,750 for the limited edition, those better be some high-class Prostitutes (fortunately, you get $500 off for buying early).

TV: If Amanda's at home tonight, there's a good chance she'll be watching Antony Thomas's Middle Sexes: Redefining He and She, a spellbinding documentary narrated by Gore Vidal that takes on the topic of intersexuality (a.k.a. hermaphroditism). Catch it at 9:30 on HBO and count how many times Vidal manages to mention Myra Breckenridge. Slightly less nuanced, but no less gripping, is the 10th Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which airs at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. (See our behind-the-scenes coverage here.)

MAGAZINES: Tod Lippy's anticommercial art-lit bible, Esopus (above), is named after a river in the Catskills and its credo is "the smaller the creek, the more life it has." Signs of vitality in its fifth issue include Richard Misrach photography, Fantasia-era sketches from Disney animator John Canemaker, and the mag's fifth compilation CD. It's on newsstands now, and worth a look.

MOVIES: Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain finally hits theaters Friday. Expect a slew of Oscar nominations next month, including a Best Actor nod for Heath Ledger (above). A slightly less buzzed-about performance is Anthony Hopkins's turn in The World's Fastest Indian. It's the story of Kiwi gearhead Burt Munro, who in 1967 took a clunky 1920 Indian motorcycle from New Zealand to Utah's Bonneville Salt Flats to set the land-speed world record—206 mph. He then falls in love with the guy who changes his oil (just kidding). It opens this week in NYC and L.A.

MUSIC: On Walking With a Ghost, the White Stripes pay homage to Canadian folk-rock duo Tegan and Sara with a cover of the eponymous song (plus live versions of four of their own tracks). And with Curtain Call, Eminem pays homage to himself. A bit early for a greatest hits collection, eh, Marshall?