Amazing time at @amfar with @nickiminaj @philippplein78 @alecmonopoly

A post shared by JEREMY MEEKS (@jmeeksofficial) on May 27, 2017 at 11:26am PDT

Stockton's own hot felon Jeremy Meeks — he of the viral mugshot whose obvious natural hotness has propelled him on a Cinderella-esque journey into fashion model stardom shortly after his release from prison on gun charges and a probation violation in March 2016 — made his European debut at the Cannes Film Festival last week. As he documented on Instagram, in addition to hitting the runway for German designer Philipp Plein's resort collection show, Meeks partied down at the Hotel du Cap with Nicki Minaj, Plein, and mask-happy artist Alec Monopoly.

After getting some modeling gigs last year, direct out of the clink, and finding (renting?) himself a phat pad in LA right around the new year, Meeks landed his first big break at New York Fashion Week thanks to Plein, who doesn't get a ton of respect in the fashion world according to Fashionista. They describe the model casting for that February runway show as having a "motley crew of models" that also included New England Patriot Danny Amendola and rapper Fetty Wap, all of whom seemed to be part of Plein's stunt to attract more US attention — he also had rapper Nas opening the show, and put Madonna, Kylie Jenner, and Paris Hilton in the front row. Meeks gave an extremely brief interview backstage at the show saying, "This whole thing is just crazy," and saying he "definitely" has more modeling aspirations.

BLESSED !!!! @amfar

A post shared by JEREMY MEEKS (@jmeeksofficial) on May 25, 2017 at 3:43pm PDT

Finally, here he is meeting former French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, whom he calls "My fashion god mother."

MY FASHION GOD MOTHER @carineroitfeld @philippplein78

A post shared by JEREMY MEEKS (@jmeeksofficial) on May 23, 2017 at 7:52am PDT

All previous coverage of Jeremy Meeks on SFist.

The mentally unhinged man who jumped into the grizzly grotto at the SF Zoo on September 26 has been acquitted by a jury. Accused of "trespassing and disturbing dangerous animals," Kenneth Herron, 21, crept into the into the dwelling of" two 6-year-old, 500-pound female grizzlies at closing time," reports SF Chronicle.

Herron told police that he heard the voice of male model Tyson Beckford in his head, telling him to "save a girl in distress." Which: seems completely reasonable to us. Anyway, Herron didn't injury any of the bears. In fact, one of the grizzlies sniffed his shoe, but ran off after SF Zoo employees fired warning shots into the air.

SF Chronicle goes on to report that "the jury concluded that there was not enough evidence to show that Herron 'willingly went into the bear enclosure,' given his mental state." Herron, however, is "still sought on a misdemeanor warrant out of Union City involving a domestic violence incident."

Let's get this over with.

Last week's pathetic challenge still hung in the air this week with the designers discussing Carmen's exit, and Chris proposing a "Project Runway" fragrance that would be a mixture of tears, sweat, and Chinese food. Can't be any worse than the odors Paris Hilton has been hawking. After some stuff with the models that was a bit confusing and boring, Heidi told the designers Tim was waiting for them in the work room and he wasn't alone. He had a familiar face with him, and she had some old friends with her. Sweet P immediately suspected they'd be designing clothes for senior citizens, which had us pondering just how the clothing needs of the elderly might differ from those of, say, the middle aged. More Velcro? Elastic waist bands? Alas, we may never know, as it turned out Nina Garcia was the familiar face, and she told the designers they were going to incorporate outdated fashion trends into modern apparel.

Heidi walked on to the runway wearing Uhura's "Star Trek" uniform--seriously--and told the designers they weren't going to need their models for this week's challenge. Ru-roh! She then sent them all to 10 Rockefeller Plaza where they met Tim Gunn who introduced them all to Tiki Barber.

Wait. Who?

Tim went on the explain to all the gays and girls that Mr. Barber once played football for the New York Giants, and is now a correspondent on NBC's "Today" show. And he likes clothes. So his appearance on the show has nothing to do with the fact that he's on an NBC TV show, and NBC also owns the Bravo network, and he'll then go on the "Today" show wearing the winning outfit therefore promoting "Project Runway." No, it has to do with the fact that he likes fashion, enjoys wearing pink, and has a big neck and giant ass. (His words, people, not ours!)

Thank God. Really, thank you, God. Since it's next to impossible to remove producer and star Tyra Banks from America's Next Top Model -- we understand the difficulty in smiting a soul that clearly sprang forth from ninth circle of hell -- at least you have the mercy to replace the sweetly boring Twiggy with the exotic and more straight-heterosexual-male-friendly Paulina Porizkova.(Yay!) Now that the show has been reduced from a grotesque display of jarring anorexia to that of an inane, feel-good beauty pageant, we hope this move makes a dent in the direction that this show has taken. (Models going green? A cigarette-free Top Model house? Just vile.)

Ta ta, Twigs. Welcome to a Tyra-free life, you sweet British bore.

During a necessary walk to cool off our fragile emotional state after our third outage-induced computer shutdown, we were flummoxed -- that's right, flummoxed!! -- to find the windows of Jeremy’s (wonky designer brands for less!) adorned with images of...real, normal, visibly-ethnic people. Not a barely-legal, anorexic model in sight. The nerve!

Since August is the month fashion glossies whip out their fabulous-at-any-age bullshit public service issues, we guess that Jeremy's is simply paralleling the yearly trend, maybe? Anyway, we’re willing to bet that the following real-ish models digest their meals to a shocking 100% completion. Shudder.

(Sorry about the glare.)

As promised, Naomi Campbell came back to town for her very first San Francisco runway walk for our city's night of Fashion Week Live last Thursday -- and as noted by SFist Elaine, she brought Australian model Gemma Ward with her. And Tyson Beckford too!

Drew Altizer, as always, was there on the scene, and sends along these pictures from the scene. We're running out of laudatory adjectives to describe Drew (we've already used "awesome," "the best," and "our favorite," we think), so let's go with "super-duper, we are forever in your debt" this go-around.

Check out Drew's pictures of models galore after the jump. (and hey, not really related, but if you're interested, America's Next Top Model is holding tryouts at the Serramonte Mall next Tuesday if you're over 5'7" and "come from a diverse background" (meaning, of course, "willing to be crazy on TV")).

Why Jello?
It actually started because I had been photographing scale models that other people had made. I’ve been a photographer for a long time. I was in Havana shooting and came across this beautiful scale model of Havana. It was fun to photograph because it turned a neat old model into something new, and I could mess with the perspective, so you couldn’t quite tell if it was real. In grad school it made sense to make my own cities that I would photograph, as opposed to things that other people had made. I was thinking about materials to use.. I’ve always been drawn to saturated light and I thought about resin, but it’s toxic, expensive, and difficult to use. Jello became this perfect alternative to resin, for practical reasons (user friendly, but with the same colors and translucence). Other benefits came along with it. That’s how I stumbled upon it.. I thought of it because of the food element. It made sense to have my art revolve around food.

Do you do anything special to the Jello in building your cities?
I typically do use Jello Brand (I buy it in large bags). The only thing special is I use the jigglers recipe w/ a lot less water. It’s firmer and holds together. I coat the molds with Pam, pretty much the same way other people use Jello

What’s your favorite (edible) Jello dish?
I’ll eat it occasionally when I’m making it, if there are scraps sitting around. I do have a sweet tooth but I don’t typically make it just for the hell of of it. I did make it for New Year’s Eve. I made an amazing Champaign lemon Jello that we cast into the trans America building for an Iron Chef type party where everyone had to use Champaign. We won.

Any plans to recreate any scenery of Utah, given that Jello is their official state food?
I do not have it on my agenda at this moment, but if Utah approached me, you never know

Semi Solid art seems to be the new medium (think Matthew Barney, you etc.).. why?
I think it has to do with the temporary nature of things and realizing environment around us is not permanent. Also looking at things as being more fragile than we realized in past. Also there is the exploration of new materials. Artists are always investigating new ways to redefine art and use new materials. Vaseline is something not too many artists have used in the past. Re-inventing materials can have all these new meanings. For me it’s a lot abut the temporary nature for of ground we stand on..

Any advice for aspiring artists out there?
Making art with food in San Francisco seems to be appropriate with so many people who love food here. More realistically, getting connected with other artist in the community and curate your own shows with other artists.

First up: The Amazing Race. We've never watched this show before until this season, and now we are . Go (local) Cho Bros!

This week's episode sees our six teams flying from the island of Mauritius to the island of Madagascar. David and Mary, the plucky Kentuckians, are marked for elimination, meaning they have to come in first this week or incur a 30-minute penalty. Their six-pack alliance is upbeat, the rest of the teams snicker.

Race! Off to an angel in a lake. Addict/models Tyler and James and fighting couple Rob and Kimberly, get to the clue box first. "Is that a Yield?"

Our local winners are: Victoria Hale, who runs the nonprofit biotech company OneWorld Health, devoted to developing pharmaceuticals for Third World countries; Claire Tomlin, who makes computerized models of motion (for planes as well as biological cells); and Jim Fruchterman, who is currently developing a database monitoring human rights abuses through his company, Benetech.

Full list of winners here. You know, we've met one of this year's winners, math professor Terry Tao. The last time we saw him, he was about 20 years old and wholly absorbed in a vigorous game of Magic: The Gathering. Awesome.