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 KATU | Visions of an online music cartel? CNET News.com - US law often comes down hard on price fixing. That's why a magazine story in October about efforts to create a music subscription site potentially backed by the top four music labels may have sounded alarms in Washington. Sony BMG, Universal questioned about venture talks: source DOJ Launches Inquiry into Total Music |
 Javno.hr | Drug overdose killed actor Renfro BBC News - Actor Brad Renfro died following an overdose of heroin and morphine, a Los Angeles coroner has ruled. The 25-year-old, who starred in films including Bully, The Client and Sleepers, was found dead at his home last month. Brad Renfro Killed By Accidental Heroin Overdose Renfro Killed by Heroin OD |
 Radio 1 | Spears' father 'can fire manager' BBC News - Singer Britney Spears' father has been given the power to fire her business manager, according to court documents. Court commissioner Reva Goetz also said James Spears was entitled to see all her manager's "documents, records and assets relating to ... Conservators to Dump Brit's Manager! Britney Spears' dad to sack manager |
From left, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren.Photos: imaxtree.com
 Vancouver Sun | Writers Strike Nearing Postscript? The Associated Press - LOS ANGELES (AP) - The now 3-month-old Hollywood writers strike could enter its final chapter Saturday when guild members gather in Los Angeles and New York to consider a proposed contract. Writers to consider contract Producers Say Writers Could Return on Monday |
McConaughey, Hudson discuss jellyfish, rapport San Jose Mercury News - By Bob Strauss He's a Skoal-chewing Texas seems-like slacker -- he actually runs his own production company -- with a penchant for wearing strange items when he's wearing much of anything at all. 'Fool's Gold' 'Fool's Gold': Precious Few Gems in This Briny Ocean |
 Washington Post | Honoring Heath Ledger Celebs, family remember fallen star at service New York Daily News - 'Brokeback Mountain' actress Michelle Williams (l.), grasps the arm of Kate Ledger, the sister of Heath Ledger at a memorial service for him in Perth, Australia. Video: Private Funeral Held for Heath Ledger Family, Friends Bid Farewell to Ledger |
Hotel greets Westminster hopefuls New York Daily News - BY SETH FIEGERMAN Rufus, an English mastiff from North Carolina, is in New York to compete in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. Video: Pageant Pups Prep for Westminster Show New Dogs, Old Tricks: Four Breeds Will Make Westminster Debut |
 Lompoc Record | Aretha Franklin gets royal treatment at Grammy event Reuters - By Sue Zeidler LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin added another jewel to her illustrious musical crown on Friday night when she was honored at the annual MusiCares dinner, a Grammy-related event that raises money for musicians in ... Hill Withdraws From Aretha Tribute Aretha Franklin earns more than a little respect |
 Sioux City Journal | 'Project Runway' top 5 make their NY Fashion Week debut Dallas Morning News - By JASON SHEELER / The Dallas Morning News NEW YORK - "Let's start the show!" Heidi Klum announced Friday, after posing for pictures with fellow judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia and guest judge Victoria Beckham. One designer emerges at center of 'Runway' 'Project Runway' Walks the Real Runway |
 CMJ.com | Ad giant to take 49% stake in agency Chicago Tribune - NEW YORK— Interpublic Group of Cos. will take a 49 percent stake in a new advertising agency formed by Steve Stoute and rapper Shawn " Jay-Z " Carter that targets African-American and multicultural consumers. A New Venture for Jay-Z, on Madison Avenue Interpublic Takes Interest In New Multicultural Ad Firm |
While dozens of friends, family members and colleagues paid their respects to Heath Ledger in New York and Los Angeles, hundreds amassed in Australia and thousands of others mourned his loss around the...
A groomed Kevin Federline with
Wilmer Valderrama at Sean John.Photos: Getty Images
Our thought process was as follows:
1. Dear God, we have to get closer to K-Fed.
2. Dear God, did we really just think that about K-Fed?
3. Dear GOD, did we really just ACT on thinking that and fight through a crowd to stand next to K-Fed?
4. DEAR GOD, does this mean we’re for sure on Team K-Fed?
He stood shorter than we imagined, and in his sedate grey suit and a pink shirt had shed the skeeze and instead looked quite tailored and hygienic. And downright placid! Standing a mere two feet from the most famous guy ever to wear a custom-made “Pimps” tracksuit at his own wedding, we immediately harbored dreams of asking him deep, thoughtful questions — Why do you have that ridiculous fauxhawk hairdo? What does “Popozao” mean? — but his security guard quickly dashed those hopes. “No interviews,” he told a disappointed girl from Us Weekly, while Federline kept his mouth clamped shut and stared slightly above everyone’s heads in a very deliberately avoid eye contact. “None at all?” we heard ourselves sputter. “No interviews,” he repeated firmly. Understandably, we imagine Kevin didn’t want to spend half an hour fielding questions about ex-wife Britney Spears’s diminished mental state, but he should consider that some of us just want to know if he threw a party for his One Tree Hill debut, or whether Chad Michael Murray makes him queasy, too.
Inside the actual venue, it turned surreal. Just down the row from Federline sat designer Roberto Cavalli, who probably couldn’t identify a K-Fed if somebody drew him a diagram and certainly didn’t figure photographers would ever be more interested in a dude who owns a “Rock Out With Your Cock Out” hat than an actual fashion legend. Vogue‘s A.L.T. and A-Dubs had the best view of all, positioned directly across the runway from Kevin. Long have we wished we could lip-read at Fashion Week, but here, we yearned to read minds. We imagine Anna was musing, “I could teach this man a thing or two about hair,” while K-Fed probably took one look at the Duchess of Bobshire and delivered the following (very moving) internal monologue: “YEEEEAH, drink it in, Bangs — you like the Subway? Want to take a trip on the Federline?” But for all we know, he was ruminating a passage from The Brothers Karamazov he’d just read in his hotel room.
We wish we could report something juicy, but alas, Federline was well-behaved, did not appear to have a hip flask, and never once pointed finger-guns at anyone. Although we did catch one almost-breach of etiquette: Overly eager to flee the scene presumably to get across town for the newly punctual Marc Jacobs show — Federline gave a farewell handshake to seatmate Wilmer Valderrama and signaled his bodyguard before guest model and show-closer Tyrese Gibson had even exited the velvet runway. Realizing his mistake, Federline stuck around for Combs’ and Gibson’s joint bow, then dashed out of there faster even than Anna.
Also spotted, almost a monumental afterthought in the wake of The Federline: Rappers Q-Tip and Fabolous; singer Cassie; Ellen Pompeo, her husband Chris Ivery, and Helena Christensen together again; and P. Diddy’s mother Janice Combs, whose shirt and tight pants were shiny, and whose sunglass lenses were the size of dinner plates. Meanwhile, Harvey Weinstein told anyone who’d listen that he is attending this show as a friend because he loves Sean “P. Diddy” Combs (which is what the program called him, in case anyone out there wasn’t sure how to address his valentine). “Me and my kids wear the clothes… well, my kids more than me,” we heard Weinstein say. “I’m not sure I’m the best model for it. I might make sales go down.” Then he went hunting for a Diet Coke. Who knew we had so much in common with him? That’s almost as surprising as our surge to get closer to K-Fed. Although a day after Tommy Hilfiger literally brought us to our knees, nothing should shock us any more. —The Fug Girls
Related: Video: Backstage at the Sean John Open Casting Call
Specail Moments Backstage at Sean John
Rachel Zoe, not at Marc Jacobs.Photos: Getty Images
Rachel Zoe was seen screaming and cursing because she couldn’t get into the Marc Jacobs show. She tried to fight her way in through the bouncers but they pushed her back. She ran off to her Town Car while the other celebs enjoyed mini bottles of Moët and an on-time show inside.
First, Jamie Spears was allowed to change the locks, and now he has the go-ahead to start cleaning house.
A court commissioner has granted Britney's dad the authority to fire her business...
From left, Anna Sui, Calvin Klein, Zac PosenPhoto: imaxtree.com
At Calvin Klein, critics marveled at Francisco Costa’s geometric minimalism and also admired Vera Wang’s newfound sensuality. Anna Sui proved quirky but entertaining to most critics, while Zac Posen’s clothes raised brows and questions. See what well-chosen adjectives made it to press in our review roundup.
Calvin Klein
Francisco Costa’s geometric minimalism generally pleased the critics, who were impressed that the designer’s austerity could be so lively. “The audience was treated to Costa at his best as the designer delivered look after look that managed to be minimal without being cold,” enthused British Vogue. The Daily called the collection’s hard lines “a form of chic seductive stimulation,” while WWD believed “the attitude stormed to the edge of aggression without crossing over.” Though several reviewers found the thumping soundtrack distracting, the clothes more than compensated. WWD liked the “big shearling coat slit in front so that it could do double-duty as edgy maternity wear,” and British Vogue preferred “a stunning patchwork pleated cap sleeve dress.”
Watch a video and a slideshow of the Calvin Klein collection.
Anna Sui
Anna Sui’s colorful pandemonium of a collection pleased critics even when they weren’t sure what to make of it. “One look topped the next for originality, use of colour and ethnic references,” said British Vogue. “All of Sui’s work comes from her 1960s soul,” Suzy Menkes explained in IHT. “The result was a show absolutely in keeping with Sui's singular look but refreshed with imagination and a new energy.” WWD was a little overwhelmed, noting the “popping colors and patterns” and finding that “the more subdued looks brought to mind what Sui does best: Cheerful cocktail fare with a hint of quirk.” Style.com loved it the most, declaring that Sui’s fall collection “ranks among her most exuberant” and confessing, “just when we thought we could be thrilled no more, an ethereal-like Aggy moved across the catwalk caped in an elfin-style dress and cape of rainbow-effect silk in a moment of pure magic.”
See a slideshow and video of the Anna Sui collection.
Vera Wang
The critical consensus on Vera Wang complimented the designer’s newfound sense of sensuality. “It was fabulous, and gave new meaning to the art of seduction,” said WWD. Style.com identified Wang’s kimono jacket as an “early Fall trend” and deemed the “sculptural bed jackets in quilted faille … equally cool.” And while WWD loved Phillip Crangi’s “remarkable jewelry,” Eric Wilson of the Times said they looked “like stripper tassles strung with a lanyard.” But he too was positive: With her “clearheaded collection,” Wang “has begun to see that simpler is better.” British Vogue loved Wang the most, highlighting the evening dresses and deeming the collection “her best yet — the epitome of sensual refinement.”
Look at a video and slideshow of the Vera Wang collection.
Zac Posen
“What remains to be seen,” coughed British Vogue, “is how his society girls will feel about paying beaucoup bucks for clothes that make them look like they should be seated at the children's table.” The Daily thought the collection was “boudoir met cabaret,” while Style.com said it “both referenced Minnie Mouse and invoked a bordello.” But there were some things to like, too. British Vogue spotted “a seriously stunning smoking jumpsuit,” and Style.com admired the elegance of a herringbone-tweed sheath. Still, the overall effect was juvenile. “So much of this collection looked designed not for grown-up women (ones with jobs) but for living dolls,” complained Style.com.
View a video and slideshow of the Zac Posen collection.
And you thought Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd" was bloody...
What was hoped to be a quick settlement between the director and former leading lady Lisa Marie had become a drawn-out,...We had a lot of downtime backstage at the Sean John show, which gave us a good chance to hang out with the male models and drink Bellinis (we know, life is hard). Nearby was a makeshift "stage": bright lights and a backdrop, evidently where Diddy had been doing his interviews earlier. There was also a fake bar set up to advertise Ciroc vodka, the sponsor for the after-party. The male models, done with hair and makeup, goofed around this area, pretending to mug for the camera and flashing what appeared to be very faux gang signs. Eventually they disappeared into a dressing room and then … Diddy appeared, camera crew in tow. He appeared to be filming some sort of reality show. Before dropping trou (yes, we saw Sean Combs take off his pants — we'll never be the same), he approached the fake bar for a Bellini. He poured pink liquid into two glasses. "This isn't a Bellini. This is grapefruit juice," he said. Then he ran across the room to another bar, apparently for take two. "You ready to go, man?" he asked the cameraman, who was perfectly positioned for whatever shot it was they were trying to get.
After this artistic moment was captured, Ellen Pompeo and Helena Christensen wandered into the area. Was Helena wearing any Diddy-designed clothes? "No, I'm wearing Marc Jacobs," she said, opening her coat to show us. "I'm trying to keep it under wraps." —Amy Odell
Pat O'Brien is back on the inside.
The veteran TV host has checked into an undisclosed rehabilitation facility, according to a statement on "The Insider" Website.
"O'Brien...
The United States has warmed to Winehouse.
After further haggling between U.S. and British officials, Amy Winehouse's visa application was approved Friday, meaning the soulful songstress...
"It's okay, baby — I'm here now."Photo: Getty Images
Update: Um, did the universe collapse on itself and we missed it? Because Marc Jacobs started A MERE 30 MINUTES LATE. That's incredibly punctual, even by any other designer's standards. We're kinda proud of him.
Earlier: Today in Marc Jacobs Rumors: K-Fed to Sit Front Row?!
[Radar]
Meanwhile, the FBI took a long, hard look at State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno's mysterious consulting business. Local housing foreclosures hit new highs, even in Manhattan. The city medical examiner ruled that Heath Ledger died from "acute intoxication" owing to a lethal overdose of prescription medications.
Celebrities, including a very pregnant Jennifer Lopez, flocked to the Fashion Week shows (and the re-re-re-re-relaunch of Halston, this time in Marco Zanini's tasteful earth tones). The super at the 26th Street Armory was busted soliciting fabulous payoffs from Marc Jacobs and others to use the facility.
Redevelopment plans for the Williamsburg Domino Sugar plant left a sour taste in the mouth of preservationists. The Chinese Year of the Rat kicked off with firecrackers, dragons, and a creepy Falun Gong-sponsored show at Radio City Music Hall. Christie's auctioneers called authorities when a guy walked in with a $4 million Warhol (he claimed he'd found it at a flea market). Cops busted a midtown psychic who conjured $487,000 out of the pockets of a Wyoming stockbroker "for praying, meditation, and an exorcism."
Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte met with congressional attorneys about steroid and HGH use; Rocket accuser Brian McNamee turned over used syringes and vials said to be a possible "smoking gun" in the case. The champion Giants rode through the Canyon of Heroes, led by sticky-fingered superman David Tyree, while area airports also earned bragging rights for another year, sweeping the top three spots on a list of the destinations air travelers are least likely to reach on time. —Mark Adams
Another week, another set of awards here at Vulture HQ. First off, we couldn't be more excited about the Grammys if a passel of publicists sent us a bunch of e-mails about their horrible clients who might appear on the show. Oh, wait! Well, should you watch the Grammys? (No.) Will Michael Jackson appear on the Grammys? (Sort of.) Who will win at the Grammys? (The undeserving.)
But don't worry, some worthy citizens are receiving awards! Ben Silverman, for example, has his acceptance speech all ready. Gary Tinterow is well on his way toward the big prize at the Met. Vulture will soon win a $500 Adidas gift card thanks to Missy Elliott. Paris Hilton is on her way to an Oscar nomination. Harvey Weinstein didn't just buy himself a great book; he won a six-month Get Out of Jail Card. And if there's any justice in the world, Charm will win the Pulitzer Prize for Best Booklike Product Promoted Through Advertainalism.
Not everyone was so lucky. Charles Bock finally got trashed by the Times. Randy Quaid is out of luck with Actors Equity (and his wife reportedly had her finger broken by a 76-year-old). Conan, Colbert, and Stewart all lost big in their megabrawl. A.O. Scott keeps getting sent to shitty movies. And the Fox football robot, thank God, seems to have been Terminated.
And finally, which wins the award for tastiest multimedia spinoff: "Sausage in the Mouth": The Movie or Hamburger Phone: The Video Game?
Twilight for Silvercup West?Photo courtesy Silvercup
If nothing else, Fashion Week is Everyman's big chance to impress. So it was that we overheard the following conversation between one such young man and a French bartender at the Carmen Marc Valvo lunch held in a backstage VIP lounge:
Guest: I'll have a glass of the voov.
Bartender: What?
Guest: The voov. I don't know. You're French — how do you pronounce it?
Bartender: I don't know what you're talking about.
Guest: The Champagne. I'd like a glass of Champagne.
[Bartender pours a glass.]
Guest: How do you say it?
Bartender: [Examines a bottle of Veuve Clicquot.] Vuv.
Guest: Right. Voov.
Just a thought: Shouldn't there be a phonetics handbook for fashion newbies? Don't we have a responsibility to educate the masses on the vernacular, from booze to shoes? Honestly, some people just don't know any better, and for those types, Proenza Schouler can be downright rough. —Amy Odell
While Presidential Candidates Promise "Change," Thousands of Teens Are Enacting Change and Asking the Candidates to Help
NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2008--Representing a movement of more than 400,000 teens, hundreds of teenagers will rally on Military Island in TIMES SQUARE, FEB. 8, 3:30 p.m. ET.
The rally will highlight teens' concerns about the toll today's pop culture is taking on their generation--the largest generation of teens in U.S. history.* The teens oppose the "cool factor" pop culture entertainment associates with substance abuse, violence, premature sexuality, Internet porn and more. The rally, called RECREATE '08, will showcase the thousands of TEEN MANIA teens who are out to RE-create entertainment, fashion, the arts, and the Web into products that build up, not tear down, their generation.
"I want to use film and television to give this generation hope that they can break free from depression, substance abuse and hopelessness in their lives," says 19-year-old Katherine Haller of Baltimore. Haller, an organizer of the RECREATE '08 rally, is currently receiving film and television production experience through Teen Mania's Center for Creative Media.
Fueled by their faith, these Teen Mania teens have sparked a movement of more than 400,000 like-minded teenagers who have gathered at arena events from coast to coast over the past two years to impact pop culture for the good of their generation.
The RECREATE '08 rally in Times Square will feature teens in the act of RE-creating some of their generation's favorite products including:
*
MTV videos
*
Teen-produced TV shows and movie-shorts running on the Panasonic jumbo-tron in Times Square
*
Tag/Graffiti artists
*
Dance and more . . .
CALLING ON THE CANDIDATES
The teens will also issue a list of 8 QUESTIONS for the presidential candidates that reflect their top concerns including: youth exposure to Internet pornography, media glamorization of drugs, sex and alcohol, and the AIDS pandemic.
Following the rally, more than 10,000 teens will gather at New Jersey's Izod Center for a two day RECREATE '08 event featuring: New York Yankee pitcher Mariano Rivera, six-time GRAMMY® Award winner Kirk Franklin, the David Crowder Band, Bishop T.D. Jakes, and TEEN MANIA founder, Ron Luce.
1. Previously on Lost, "We're Goin' Home"
We're not exactly sure why it needed to exist, but here's the "rock recap" of last week's Lost premiere, recorded by a Brooklyn band that's even nerdier than Animal Collective and Vampire Weekend put together. Like the show, the song is fun but seems to have trouble finding a satisfying ending. [Hypeful]
2. Of Montreal, "Tropical Iceland" (Fiery Furnaces cover)
Of Montreal perform the Furnaces' track with Talking Heads–y aplomb, adding to an already impressive list of covers in the repertoire. They're our first choice for a wedding band. [Broadcaster House]
3. So So Modern, "Vulture Kisses"
We can assure you that kissing us is much more pleasant than this proggy electro-clash track from New Zealand would lead you to believe. [5 Acts]
4. Lyrics Born, "Hott 2 Deff"
Lyrics Born has a new album out in April, and this upbeat new track pairs his breathless, old-man delivery with Gwen Stefani–esque background vocals. Definitely an all-ages show. [So Much Silence]
5. Maritime, "Boy From School" (Hot Chip cover)
Maritime adds a little synthetic saxophone to improve on this track from HC's The Warning. [Pitchfork] —Ehren Gresehover
'Twas a Gawker Thanksgiving,
And all through the 'Net
LOLCats were begging for pills from the vet.
The comments were added to postings with care,
In hopes of be-"friend"-ment from other wits there;
The editors nestled all warm by their screens
While visions of bonuses danced in their beans.
And Scarlett in her panties, and I with my junk
Had just settled down for a nice autumn bonk,
When out on the street there arose a to-do --
Wait, it's just someone's car alarm -- Buddy! Screw you!
So I opened my laptop to see what was upon it;
But my screensaver, Jessica Alba, was on it,
Her beautiful breasts and her lovely tan face
(I'm sorry, I seem to be losing my place).
But then on my flickering screen did appear
An ad for a movie! An ad for a beer!
And hundreds of postings, amusingly starkers,
I realized, at last, I was looking at Gawker.
Like bloggers on crack, how the postings they came,
Full of tales about people I'm ashamed I can name:
Now Julia! now, Jakob! now, Burkle and Paris!
On, Kimmel! on, Pollack! um... Emmylou Harris?
From the date-writing ladies to the douches who date 'em!
Dash away, Eric Schaeffer! Buh-bye, Judith Regan!
The writing was funny, the comments were more so,
And I shook as I laughed, till a pain in my torso
Let me know it was time to retire to my meal
Full of turkey and stuffing with shaved apple peel.
With my eyes kind of bleary, and my back quite unstable,
I arose from my desk and went out to the table.
I sat down to a meal full of onion and sage,
And said, "Good holidays to all! Except John Fizgerald Page!"
Amazing. Never, ever leave Ted.
Q: Who was Sam to Britney?
Sands: "Sam was Spears manager. if you look at the movie "Frances," Britney is the 21st century version of Frances Farmer. Spears has mental illness called 'bipolar disorder,' I know this because my ex-wife suffered from it."
The Grammys are this Sunday night, and while Vulture is officially advising you not to watch, it is still our duty today, as culture bloggers, to speculate a bit on the evening's probable victors. Only problem is, Grammy winners are historically selected by an untrained team of paint-huffing, dart-throwing chimpanzees with little regard for artistic merit, making their choices virtually impossible to anticipate. The only thing of which we can be sure is that they will be completely baffling. With this in mind, we combed the list of nominees for categories in which there are four reasonable-ish picks, and one whose very presence can be explained by no earthly means (these are the winners, obviously).
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace
Vince Gill, These Days
Herbie Hancock, River: The Joni Letters
Kanye West, Graduation
Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
Should win: LCD Soundsystem, hands down … Oh. Then Kanye, we guess. It's his third nomination in this category, and Graduation did sell a million copies in a week.
Will inexplicably win: A case could certainly be made for the Foo Fighters, but we're going with Herbie Hancock. We're not saying his talent and legend don't dwarf those of all his competitors, because they surely do. It's just that we had no idea he'd recorded an album this year — or since Future Shock, for that matter.
BEST NEW ARTIST
Feist
Ledisi
Paramore
Taylor Swift
Amy Winehouse
Should win: Amy Winehouse was the music business' one true breakout star in 2007, even if her success had more to do with Perez Hilton than Doug Morris. Plus, Back in Black is the only one by any of these artists to score an Album of the Year nod, which makes her the logical winner by default…
Will inexplicably win: …if the Grammys made any damn sense at all, which they clearly do not. Feist will pick this one up easily, never mind the fact that she's made eight albums (as a solo artist and with Broken Social Scene) since 1999. We love Feist, but she's been around since before iPods were even invented.
BEST ROCK ALBUM
Daughtry, Daughtry
John Fogerty, Revival
Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace
Bruce Springsteen, Magic
WIlco, Sky Blue Sky
Should win: We'd be fine with Springsteen or Wilco. Daughtry would make sense, since his album did sell 3 million copies. And the Foo Fighters are the only ones also nominated for Album of the Year, implying the Grammys have already decided that theirs is the year's best rock album…
Will inexplicably win: …which leaves only 62-year-old John Fogerty, who'll be performing Sunday with Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, presumably to encourage viewers to get their prostates checked out.
BEST RAP SOLO PERFORMANCE
Common, "The People"
50 Cent, "I Get Money"
Jay-Z, "Show Me What You Got"
T.I., "Big Things Poppin'"
Kanye West, "Stronger"
Should win: Kanye West, for sure.
Will inexplicably win: Did you know that anything released after September 30, 2007, was ineligible for this year's Grammys? That's because the recording industry thinks that if they finalize the nominees by early December, consumers will actually give their friends and loved ones CDs for Christmas! Have you ever heard anything so crazy in your entire life? Anyway, this is why the lead single from 2006's secret Jay-Z album is in here, rather than the far-superior "Roc Boys" from 2007's secret Jay-Z album. Naturally, since its inclusion makes very little sense, it's probably a lock.
BEST FEMALE POP VOCAL PERFORMANCE
Christina Aguilera, "Candyman"
Feist, "1234"
Fergie, "Big Girls Don't Cry"
Nelly Furtado, "Say It Right"
Amy Winehouse, "Rehab"
Should win: Out of these contenders, it would be hard to argue for anyone other than Winehouse. After all, for an award ostensibly designed to honor a vocal performance, hers in "Rehab" is the only of these to actually sound like one.
Will inexplicably win: We can't think of a single reason why Fergie would even have a shot — which is precisely why she'll definitely win.
New York Times fashion editor Karla Martinez was looking forward to the Carolina Herrera show when Amy Larocca and our cameras saw her earlier this week. “We haven’t been invited for the two years that I’ve been [at the Times],” she said. “I think there were some bad reviews that had been written in the past.” Scandalous! Watch the Video Look Book for more hard truths about Fashion Week.
Kennedy and Gallo strike their signature poses.Photos: WireImage, Getty Images
Fashion Week Text Messages Between Cory Kennedy and Cobrasnake Mark Hunter
For whatever blessed reason, the two nightlife fixtures shared some of their SMS grandeur with us. A snippet, sent while Cory was at the Gucci party:
CORY NYC: Its a celeb party
CORY NYC: Everyones here
COBRASNAKE NETFLIX NEW YORK: Wow. Amazing.
COBRASNAKE NETFLIX NEW YORK: Take photos
CORY NYC: I don’t even want to
CORY NYC: There’s just too many
COBRASNAKE NETFLIX NEW YORK: That’s so cooool
COBRASNAKE NETFLIX NEW YORK: To bad I’m not thereeee
CORY NYC: I know you would ddddiiiie
[More here.]
Vincent Gallo Feels Bad About His Face
At the Y-3 show, Gallo bared his soul a bit, confessing to our reporter that he stopped boxing because he didn't want to damage his face: “When you’re vain and you can’t stand your face, even the way it is, you don’t want to take any more chances.” Why can’t he stand his face? “Because it started off so nice — the little button nose and long blond hair,” he said. “And then God punished me.” Aw, Vincent. Don't self-hate, celebrate! (Yes, we just became Tyra Banks. So what?)
At this moment, David Shuster may very well be booking a flight to a remote island somewhere. During a discussion of Chelsea Clinton's recently elevated role in Hillary's campaign on MSNBC last night, Shuster asked whether the 27-year-old was "sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way." (Click above to view.) His point, some have interpreted, was that the only type of person that would campaign for their mother is some kind of street whore. Shuster made an on-air apology today, but so far Hillary is unwilling to bury the hatchet. Her communications director, Howard Wolfson, told reporters that Hillary might pull out of MSNBC's planned debate on February 26 in Ohio. "I, at this point, can't envision a scenario where we would continue to engage in debates on that network," he said in a conference call. Now, instead of ignoring Fox News, whose invitation to host a Democratic debate Hillary finally (unilaterally) accepted a few days ago, Hillary's shutting out MSNBC. It's like the networks just switched their acceptable/pariah roles. Those with sharp memories may recall a similar Chelsea-attack episode in 1993, when Mike Myers claimed on SNL that Chelsea Clinton, 13 years old at the time, was "not a babe." If Chelsea's the type of person to look for a silver lining, she might note that at least the inappropriate, disparaging comments about her have improved over the years: She went from being unattractive to being so attractive that people will pay to have sex with her. Remember to thank Shuster for the compliment, Chelsea. —Dan Amira
MSNBC's Chelsea Comment Angers Clinton [Guardian]
Update: Shuster has been suspended temporarily from appearances on NBC and MSNBC because of his gaffe.
The CW is getting out of the ring with pro wrestling.
The network announced Thursday that it is dropping "Friday Night Smackdown" from its schedule at the close of the 2007-08 season...
Nada Surf in October, at their now infamous drummer-less gig.Photo: Elizabeth Weinberg / Retna
Bay Ridge: Hey, who's dumping the huge piles of plastic spoons in Owl's Head Park? Will huge piles of Pinkberry follow? [Right in Bay Ridge]
Chelsea: The High Line is blogging and social networking! And it already has 47 fans! [Facebook and High Line Blog]
Gramercy: That big new condo on 23rd Street and Third Avenue won't be sold chockablock to rich Irish folks after all … looks like it's gonna be a big fat NYU dorm! [Villager]
Midtown: The in-progress Bank of America tower (One Bryant Park) is going to be very, very tall. Check out these dizzying pics from the top of the construction site. [Curbed]
Ozone Park: Behold this longtimer's anti-immigration lament, of hoods that "have become little more than third-world bazaars," "weddings that go on for days on end," and "homes … turned into warrens of cubicles with mattresses on the floors." Whoa! [Queens Crap]
Park Slope: Even in the dead of winter, the out-of-control parents of the Slope are still letting their children urinate in the street. This must be stopped. [Brooklynian]
Prospect Park: Okay, you have to see this video of the park zoo's new baby kangaroo hopping around and then back into mom's pouch. Soooo cuuuuuute! [NYZoos]
Images from Germaine Kruip’s Image Archive (2004–ongoing).Image courtesy of the artist and Swiss Institute, New York.
To inaugurate its new project space, Studio 495, the Swiss Institute brings together works rooted in formal comparison. Germaine Kruip’s ongoing Image Archive project does just that and in doing so creates some interesting political undertones. Take these starkly similar images of Bolivian officers prodding Che Guervara’s corpse and Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632). We suppose history really does repeat itself. The exhibition, titled “Good News for People Who Love Bad News,” opens at the Swiss Institute’s Soho location on Tuesday. —Rachel Wolff
Amy Winehouse and Kanye West? Check. Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney? Don't hold your breath.
The final lineup of presenters and performers for this weekend's Grammy Awards is set,...
Courtesy of NBC; Getty Images, iStockphoto
Fans of NBC's Friday Night Lights, angry at NBC wunderkind Ben Silverman for constantly pushing 30 Rock over their favorite drama, are taking matters into their own hands as the show's final pre-strike episode is airing tonight. Spurred on by the FNL-loving editors of Best Week Ever, fans are sending Silverman envelopes full of broken glass, hoping against hope that the exec will take one look at his coterie of assistants as they lie weeping on the floor, their bleeding hands staining his plush carpet, and, cowed by the ferocity of scorned fans of quality television, will renew their favorite show.
Oh, what's that? Apparently they're just sending NBC lightbulbs. With "LIGHTS ON" written on the side. You know, like how fans of Jericho sent CBS packages full of nuts. Our bad. Well, surely those lightbulbs won't shatter, right? Although even if they do, we're okay with that.
Save Friday Night Lights [BWE}
Photo: Patrick McMullan
If the deal with Deutsche Bank goes through, could this be the first multi-billion-dollar real-estate deal gone sour in which unsuspecting investors aren’t given the shaft — in the form of multi-billion-dollar write-downs or plummeting stock prices — and the responsible parties are the only ones to take it on the chin?
Macklowe knew full well what he was doing when he made these purchases; he was trying to take advantage of the bubble before it burst, and he was wrong. The penalty: He loses not only the buildings that he bought but also the crown jewel of his empire, the GM building. Who else gets burned? No one, really. Deutsche Bank, which just announced a fourth-quarter profit of $1.4 billion in the topsy-turvy market, says that they won't lose money on a deal with Macklowe.
Macklowe will go down in the annals of New York real estate as a mogul twice burned — he also took a hit when prices collapsed in the early nineties — but he’s got a new feather in his cap-of-failure that is remarkable for its singular aspect. Apparently, he has only recently returned from a trip to the Middle East, where he hoped to find new equity partners to fork over some cash and allow him to avoid the impending default. Yes, we refer to that Middle East — the one that’s literally spewing cash all over the globe, like gasoline from a hose, as the sovereign funds of oil-rich nations pick up the pieces of Western overreach from the credit debacle. And Macklowe came up empty. Forget about taking candy from a baby. Macklowe couldn’t even convince the baby to take the candy from him. —Duff McDonald
Macklowe, Lenders Seek Deal [WSJ]
In this week's issue of New York, art critic Jerry Saltz praises Israeli artist Guy Ben-Ner's Stealing Beauty, an eighteen-minute video project in which Ben-Ner's family acts out a weird and politically charged sitcom in Ikea stores throughout the world. Here's a three-minute excerpt from the fascinating video, which can be seen in its entirety at the Postmasters Gallery through February 16.
Related: Artist in Residence [NYM]
"I knew I should've packed a change of underwear."Photo courtesy NBC
And Twitchy is only one of four new dwarves to land on the island, the others being Spooky, Indy, and Jimmy Buffet — a team summed up contemptuously by The Wire's Lieutenant Daniels as "a head case, a ghost buster, an anthropologist, and a drunk." (I hate ethnographies too, but that's a little harsh.)
These are the folks Jack thinks are there to save them and Locke thinks are there to kill them. Their chopper has dumped them on the island with nothing more than one "transponder" and a flashback each, like some speeded-up variant on the original crash. It's a super-efficient structure, and like last week's melancholy flash forward, a thrilling bit of writerly bravado, slamming the show's game board out at least fourteen squares on every edge. Because apparently, there is a whole planet of people who believe that Oceanic Flight 815 is lying at the bottom of the ocean, with no survivors. Except for our new buddies, who seem bizarrely unsurprised by the news.
The Semi-Past: A Few Months After the Original Crash
It's the day authorities announce the discovery of Oceanic Flight 815, and the TV news is airing footage of bobbing corpses. The rescue dwarves react. Daniel Faraday, Davies’s antsy physicist, weeps and doesn't know why. Miles, a dead-eyed psychic–con man played by Ken Leung, is unfazed as he enters a grieving mom's home to, basically, blackmail a ghost — a hilarious sequence featuring a hoodoo vacuum and Miles’s deadpan warning: "No matter what you hear, don't come up."
There's Charlotte Staples Lewis (C.S. Lewis?), a cocky Indiana Jones–ish Brit, who finds the Dharma-tagged remnants of a polar bear in the middle of Tunisia. And there's pilot Frank Lapidus, who was supposed to fly Oceanic Flight 815 and recognizes the footage is a hoax.
And then there's a flash to now-dead Naomi, getting orders from Evil Lieutenant Daniels.
The Present
Last week, we expressed a definite preference for Team Locke, because they have more crazy people. The powers that be clearly listened, since this week they sprinkled two obviously crazy people into Team Jack, in the form of Twitchy and Spooky, who elliptically reveal that they are not there to rescue the survivors, exactly, and who seem, respectively, as fragile as a teacup and hair-trigger paranoid yet delightfully snarky, like a bizarro variation on Locke and Ben.
Kate, Jack, and their two new buddies pull guns and jockey anxiously over the issue of Naomi (where is she? Who killed her?) — which is easily resolved when Miles uses the Shining to confirm Kate's story. Sayid plans a rescue mission with Juliet, once again demonstrating chemistry with everyone on earth, from a morally ambiguous Other to a helicopter. They find Frank, who discerns that Juliet was not on the plane, and Miles blurts out their real mission: They're looking for Ben.
Meanwhile, on Team Locke, Ben and Locke and Sawyer bicker hilariously about what in hell they're doing. Sawyer calls Locke "Colonel Kurtz," and Locke explains that he's following the orders of Walt, only a really tall Walt, and that he'd be dead from Ben's gunshot if it weren't for his missing kidney. (A perverse twist on the old bullet-in-the-Bible story!)
But as usual, Ben gets all the best lines, with bonus points going to his hilarious rrr-roll while saying, "Karrrl, now if you're going to sleep with my daughter, I insist you call me Ben." Sawyer tries to kill Ben, but Locke talks him out of it. And there are a lot of shots of Claire looking increasingly certain that she is on the wrong team, at least if she's looking for babysitters.
Anyway, Charlotte lands among Team Bickering Psycho. For a while, she holds off Locke's hostility, but he's clearly considering killing her, though he compromises by merely kidnapping her. In other words, Locke has completed his transformation into a season-one Other: He's obsessed with staying hidden on the island and will rationalize any act that achieves this aim as morally justified. GO TEAM LOCKE!
Then Ben grabs a gun and tries to shoot Charlotte himself and suddenly all bets are off. Locke is especially furious, because he is the only one allowed to murder rescuers in cold blood. So he turns the gun on Ben, and just as he's about to kill him, Ben offers to tell him ANYTHING, ANYTHING! He has information! Hilariously, Locke turns into an addled online fan of the show and sputters, "What is the monster? The black smoke monster?" Ben, speaking for the writers, has no idea.
Luckily, Ben is able to save his skin once again by dishing up a huge amount of backstory on the rescue dwarves and revealing, correctly, that he is their target. Which he knows because … he has a man on their boat.
What We Now Know
Somebody built a big fake airplane under the ocean, complete with Pirates of the Caribbean–style corpses. Or real corpses.
Television stations in Lost have lower standards than TMZ.
Abbadon is a Hebrew word for Satan.
The Wha? Factor
What sneaky bastard has been time-traveling polar bears into the desert?
Who is Ben's man on the boat? Michael? Walt? Beautiful Eyeliner Richard? Annie?
And who is running this whole cockamamy operation? Here's hoping it's the International Conspiracy of Bad Dads. —Emily Nussbaum
Clinton at New York's Gay Pride March in 2000.Photo: Getty Images
First, there's the record: As First Lady, Hillary marched in a gay-pride parade, and she has done so multiple times as a senator. She's supported AIDS-care funding and an expansion of hate-crimes legislation. And after nearly running his first administration aground by coming out for gays to serve openly in the military, Bill appointed openly gay James Hormel as ambassador to Luxembourg in 1999 during a congressional recess. The Clintons just seemed comfortable around gay people.
It's hard for Obama to match that history, even though his LGBT platform is similarly progressive to Hillary's. (In fact, Obama's is actually better, since he supports a full repeal of DOMA, and Clinton just wants to remove many of its restrictions.) Obama is handsome and well meaning, but it's hard for many gay voters to not also see just another straight guy with the messianic ego to think he deserves to lead. And then there's the hard-to-shake perception that he might be somehow personally uncomfortable around gay people. As part of his building of a coalition of idealistic white liberals and black churchgoers, Obama invited gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, who says his faith cured him of homosexuality, to perform at one of his fund-raisers (though he repudiated McClurkin's views).
Meanwhile, Hillary has become a gay icon the hard way, or possibly the only way — she's the awkward idealist who's suffered and been smeared while working twice as hard to be perfect. She grew up feeling like she had to prove herself doubly to earn the respect of her father and brothers. Neel Lattimore, her press secretary in the White House, once told me that during a gay fund-raiser for her first Senate bid, he and the other attendees laughed it up in true camp fashion as a montage of her bad hairstyles played — and Hillary laughed right along. —Sean Kennedy
Earlier: Hillary Makes Sure ‘The Advocate’ Understands How Much She Does Not Support Marriage Equality
From left,The Hottie and the Nottie; Norbit.Courtesy of Regent Releasing, Paramount Pictures
With a current Metacritic score of 7, Paris Hilton's The Hottie and the Nottie is already shaping up to be this year's Norbit, the movie most widely reviled by America's critics. Surely, Hottie already has the inside track on equaling Norbit's eight Razzie nominations. But could Hottie match Norbit's remarkable feat of scoring an Oscar nomination? We think so!
Norbit's nomination was in the category of Best Makeup, a field in which The Hottie and the Nottie also excels. After all, it turns out that the actress who plays Paris Hilton's "Nottie" best friend, Christine Lakin, is — gasp! — actually a hottie. But thanks to some padding, an awful unibrow, false teeth, and gross hair, Lakin has been transformed — just barely — into someone more repellent than Paris Hilton. Surely that's an achievement on par with makeup guru Rick Baker's transforming Eddie Murphy into a 300-pound woman and an elderly Chinese man. Are the 2009 Oscars ready for Paris Hilton?
The Hottie and the Nottie [Metacritic]
Christine Lakin [Official site]
Earlier: Vulture's Critics' Poll: What Was the Worst Movie of 2007?
Penn Badgley, Ed Westwick, and Chace Crawford. Now, just a little closer. Closer … Closer … Now start panting!Photo: Out.com
The thought of returning to high school is a harrowing one for most gay men, but being able to look at adolescence through a lens that idealizes everyone as insanely wealthy, impossibly gorgeous, and improbably well-spoken is like porn.
We couldn't have said it better ourselves. Okay, we have, but it took us thousands and thousands of words to do it. Dan Penn Badgley talks a bit to the mag about whether or not he would be comfortable going gay for the show. "It would be an interesting thing to do," he says. "It could bring in a whole different demographic." If you're talking about the kind of demographic who lusts after teenage boys discovering their sexuality, Penn, we're pretty sure you've already got that one sewed up.
School Ties [Out.com via Towleroad]
Photo: Patrick McMullan
Alan Cumming At G-Star [AP]
Related: Plimpton's Cute, Posey's Ragged, and Price Is Scared [The Cut]
Photo: Getty Images
"I've been trying to get out of it. I'd rather not be in a movie with her. I'm not a fan. I was a fan of her father's. I am retiring." —Vincent Gallo, who'd rather quit acting than co-star with his ex-wife, Asia Argento [Starpulse]
"Of course. I mean, come on, it's Tom Cruise! He's top gun. It could have been me and Screech or me and some guy from The Hills, but it was me and a top movie star. That means I'm big." —Rob Thomas on rumors that he slept with Tom Cruise [TONY]
"Barack, Oprah has only gotten you so far. Teddy Kennedy did nothing for you. Maybe a C List basic cable celebrity is just what you need to close the deal on this thing. Hillary, ditto for you. Having Bill on the campaign trail backfired. When he talks shit about the other guy, YOU look bad. When I talk shit, ratings go through the roof. Why do you think VH1 is putting I Love the 00's on before the decade is even over? Think about it." —Michael Ian Black [Michael's Blog]
"He was depressed during the process … He felt like he wouldn't have sex for three months. Full-blown depression. I mean, bad. [He] didn't like the way he looked. He'd stay home for hours on end. He wouldn't go out." —Josh Brolin on No Country for Old Men co-star Javier Bardem [Starpulse]
"I know you want me to say that the Oscar sucks and this [the Pudding Pot Award] is better. There are no men in drag at the Oscars like there are here. I've never been surrounded by so many fake breasts." —Charlize Theron on which is a bigger honor, her Academy Award or her Harvard Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year Award [People]
John Mellencamp wants to make it clear--he doesn't want to R.O.C.K in John McCain's U.S.A.
Upon learning that songs of his, including "Our Country" and "Pink House,"...
We don't know what's going on with their sizes in
this picture. Foreshortening, maybe? Fore-oldening?Photo: WireImage
Demi Moore's A-List Birthday Bash for Ashton Kutcher [Us Weekly]
Ashton's A-List B-Day [PageSix.com]
Though she might have ceded the headlines, Anna Nicole Smith is hardly forgotten on the one-year anniversary of her demise.
The 39-year-old Playmate turned reality star died unexpectedly Feb....FASHION
• Martha Stewart used her digital camera to snap pictures of celebrities at the Gucci event at the U.N. the other night. "It's for my blog," she explained. [WWD]
• Anna Wintour and Suzy Menkes are getting kind of tired of Fashion Week. [The Cut]
• A twelve-page photo spread in the March issue of Harper's Bazaar reenacts the two-hour delay of the Marc Jacobs show last fall, starring Helena Christensen, Allison Sarofim, Genevieve Jones, Cindy Sherman, Kim Gordon, and members of Jacobs's own PR team, all looking visibly annoyed. Weird, and also kind of awesome? [Fashion Week Daily]
MEDIA
• MTV president Christina Norman announced her resignation yesterday and plans to leave the network at the end of this month. No word yet on her replacement. [HR]
• The hastily arranged antitrust hearing on the proposed Microsoft-Yahoo pairing, originally scheduled for this morning, has been canceled. The U.S. House of Representatives has decided to, you know, wait and see if Yahoo accepts the offer first. [Fortune]
LAW
•If cops are “The Finest” and firefighters are “The Bravest,” what does that make New York City’s cadre of lawyers? A new book by NYU law professor William E. Nelson prompted a discussion yesterday of the legal profession’s devotion to the City. [NYT]
•Lawyer to private-equity all-stars Carlyle Group and KKR, R. Ronald Hopkinson is leaving Latham (his firm of nearly twenty years) and headed Cadwalader’s way to head up their PE division. [NY Law Journal]
• Brian McNamee's lawyer is going to have a tough time explaining why he saved the steroid paraphernalia he supposedly injected Roger Clemens with, and why he didn’t reveal it to federal authorities or to George Mitchell. What was he going to do, sell it on eBay? [WSJ]
FINANCE
•Just one day after a more expensive plan failed to get the go-ahead, both the House and the Senate have voted through a $168 billion economic stimulus plan. [NYT]
•The probe of Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s role in the mortgage meltdown will continue as scheduled. So says state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who also called reform plans from the ratings agencies “too little, too late.” [NYDN]
• Warner Music Group CEO and chairman Edgar Bronfman is being investigated by French officials, who think he may have engaged in some insider trading back in 2000 when he was at the helm of French media group Vivendi. [NYP]
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