Clean, simple lines distinguish the gemstone jewelry of Caesar Azzam, 38, owner of Caesar's Designs at One Oxford Centre, Downtown.
Distinguished, too, is the company Azzam keeps in a new catalog from the World Gold Council.
A turquoise ring ($2,550) and bangle ($2,650) by Azzam are among the catalog's pictured pieces of gold jewelry by some of the world's most esteemed designers: David Yurman, John Hardy and Victor Mayer for Faberge. Top-drawer retailers use the catalog.
"The big thing is to be included. Everybody in this catalog is 'somebody,'" says Azzam, a Dormont resident and third-generation jeweler from Lebanon. "I submitted pieces, and they were chosen by the World Gold Council to be included in this publication."
The catalog is part of the gold council's current "Glow With Gold" advertising campaign, as seen in the current issue of Town & Country magazine.
The World Gold Council will present Azzam's turquoise bangle and ring at a trade show opening today in Las Vegas. A model wore the ring and bangle earlier this week during a fashion show at the 2002 Couture Jewelry Collection & Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., sponsored by the World Gold Council and W magazine.
Azzam is a graduate of the Gemological Institute of America and the American University of Beirut. He specializes in spare, artful settings of colored gems, diamonds, turquoise and coral in platinum, 18-carat white and yellow gold, sterling silver, and combinations of those precious metals. Azzam will exhibit his jewelry June 14 through 16 and June 21 through 23 at the Three Rivers Arts Festival. Models also will present his jewelry during the Shops of One Oxford Centre Fashion Show at 12:15 p.m. June 21 at One Oxford Centre.
MOHR TICKETS ON SALE
Tickets go on sale today for a show by comedian, actor and television host Jay Mohr, who brings his standup act to the new Improv on June 13 through 15 at the Waterfront in Homestead.
Mohr, who has appeared on "Saturday Night Live," also starred alongside Jennifer Aniston in "Picture Perfect" and played Tom Cruise's rival sports agent in "Jerry Maguire." He also hosts his own irreverent, off-kilter comedy/sports talk show, "Mohr Sports," which airs at 12:30 a.m. Tuesdays on ESPN. The show will move to an 8 p.m. time slot June 11.
Show times are 8 p.m. June 13; 8 and 10 p.m. June 14; and 7 and 9 p.m. June 15. Tickets are $25.
The Improv will be at 166 E. Bridge St. in Homestead.
Seats can be reserved by calling (412) 462-5233. During the second week in June, audiences also will be able to reserve seats online for Mohr and other Improv acts by logging on to www.improv.com.
BRAINS AT THE BOX OFFICE
Brains are accompanying brawn on the big screen this summer.
Along with "Spider-Man," "Star Wars" and other mammoth action movies, Hollywood's busy season brings an unusually healthy crop of smarter films for older adults to balance the popcorn flicks aimed mainly at viewers in their teens and 20s.
Counter-programming such films during the youth-oriented summer is standard Hollywood practice to keep baby boomers theater-bound. What's different this year is how steadily those films are coming and how well they're clicking with audiences.
A major new adult release has arrived each of the last three weekends: the adultery thriller "Unfaithful," starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane; the Hugh Grant romantic comedy "About a Boy"; and the edgy crime drama "Insomnia," with Al Pacino and Robin Williams.
Each has scored with adults age 25 and older, drawing solid business in a movie market dominated by blockbusters "Spider-Man" and "Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones." "Insomnia" debuted last weekend with a robust $26.1 million, while "Unfaithful" and "About a Boy" opened well and have held up strongly in subsequent weekends.
"There's been room for a lot of different kinds of films that are specifically directed toward different audiences," says Jeff Blake, head of distribution and marketing for Sony, which released "Spider-Man." "It seems like the blockbusters have expanded the market enough to let these other films do quite nicely."
Another higher-minded film, an adaptation of Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest," debuted strongly in limited release last weekend.
Also coming this summer are "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood," an ensemble women's film featuring Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, Ashley Judd and Maggie Smith; Nicolas Cage's "Windtalkers," about Navajo code-men during World War II; a new three-hour cut of the beloved Italian film "Cinema Paradiso"; the brainy Sundance Film Festival comedy hit "Tadpole," with Sigourney Weaver; Steven Soderbergh's pseudo-sequel to "sex, lies and videotape," "Full Frontal," featuring Julia Roberts and David Duchovny; and "Road to Perdition," from "American Beauty" director Sam Mendes, a 1930s Irish-American mob tale with Tom Hanks, Paul Newman and Jude Law.
"Here's a film that you would normally expect to see toward the end of the year. I'm happy the studio feels confident to let the movie stand on its own two feet in the middle of summer," Mendes says.
Steven Spielberg, whose DreamWorks studio backed "American Beauty" and "Road to Perdition," teams with Tom Cruise on "Minority Report," a hybrid of action and ideas. Cruise plays a cop of the future accused of a murder he has yet to commit by a psychic police corps that arrests people before they carry out their crimes.
"It's that rarest and best combination — big, summer, popcorn fun — but it's also about something," says Tom Rothman, studio co-chairman for 20th Century Fox, which is distributing "Minority Report" and also released "Unfaithful."
Adult-oriented films such as "Unfaithful," "Insomnia" and "About a Boy" rarely rise to blockbuster status. But they are far cheaper to make and market than a $120 million behemoth such as "Spider-Man," so they can become solidly profitable even in a summer crowded with explosive action and dumb comedy.
"There's a huge market available for good, solid, adult entertainment," says Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which made "Insomnia." "Good movies rise to the occasion. It's as simple as that."
