Local makeup artist Jami Svay, as featured in the Charlotte Observer, Blu Magazine, and today on waxMaMa.com, has made it big (and I don’t say that just because we’re mentioning her here on Klepto). Her line of lip balm, Tastee Cosmetics, was recently the star of the show on QVC. Check out the video.

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NC Blumenthal Performing Arts Center’s Broadway Lights Series continues with performances of The Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific all weekend. Click here to see a review. If you’re really feeling it, watch this sing-along video, featuring “A Wonderful Guy” sung by Mitzi Gaynor.

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As musical and cultural boundaries bend and blend, there was bound to be a Hasidic Jew singing rasta music. Matisyahu (born Matthew Miller) weaves traditional Jewish spirituality with mighty, uplifting reggae grooves. He is touring for his third album simply called Light, where conscious lyrics, funky riddims, ragamuffin, dancehall, roots reggae and soaring rock riffs collide in this, well, a cross-cultural blend. With Moon Taxi. The Fillmore Charlotte. (Samir Shukla)

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Sometimes blogs are useful for simply passing along something worthwhile. If you’re like me and enjoy dark humor, like The Onion, and can’t stand even the thought of Glenn Beck, then check out this video from Onion News Network.

— John Grooms

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Those animated maniacs in Dethklok play The Fillmore tonight (with Mastodon along for the ride). Here’s just a taste of the insanity that lies ahead:

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Have you cast your vote for mayor yet? Check out this video talking about the two candidates, John Lassiter and Anthony Foxx.

Nov. 3 is the last day to let your voice be heard. Vote early at one of these locations:

Board of Elections 741 Kenilworth Ave. – Charlotte
Beatties Ford Library 2412 Beatties Ford Rd. – Charlotte
CPCC 1325 E. 7th Street – Charlotte
Independence Regional Library 6015 Conference Dr. – Charlotte
Main Branch Library 310 N. Tryon St. – Charlotte
Morrison Regional Library 7015 Morrison Blvd. – Charlotte
North County Regional Library 16500 Holly Crest Ln. – Huntersville
Plaza-Midwood Library 1623 Central Ave. – Charlotte
South County Regional Library 5801 Rea Rd. – Charlotte
Steele Creek Library 13620 Steele Creek Road – Charlotte
University City Regional Library 301 E. W.T. Harris Blvd. – Charlotte
West Boulevard Library 2157 West Blvd. – Charlotte

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Windows 7 hit stores yesterday, and with it came a whopper of a promotion. Considering how obese Americans are, thankfully, this promotion is in Japan only.

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Before we get all entangled in politics and other “serious” news this week, take a moment to celebrate an important cultural anniversary. Forty years ago, the first episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus first aired on the BBC.

Starring John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and animator Terry Gilliam. The show’s influence was enormous — some critics have called Monty Python the Beatles of comedy — and changed the way comedy artists and other performers approach their audiences. Monty Python pioneered the practice of teams of entertainers writing and performing their own material, as well as the acknowledgment, even celebration, of life’s absurdities through sheer, unrestrained silliness and surreal situational comedy.

Boundary-pushers from the get-go, the group’s popularity grew slowly at first, but by the time their syndicated TV show ended in 1974, they were countercultural heroes of a sort, and phrases and skits from the show had become part of the cultural vernacular. Members of Monty Python went on to make films such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Life of Brian, inspired the hit Broadway musical Spamalot, and, in Gilliam’s case, became a respected film director. Graham Chapman died of cancer in 1989; during occasional reunions, the other members of the group often come on stage holding an urn that supposedly contains Chapman’s ashes. Rather than go on and on about these comedic and cultural heroes, here are two of their most famous TV sketches. Note: Monty Python has its own YouTube channel.

— John Grooms

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Hell yeah. Tell ‘em senator.

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