Love to constantly be criticized, yelled at and/or grilled?
Want to work for a douchey GM with an undeserved sense of
entitlement, who wears a Prince Valiant haircut accessorized with
a treble-clef earring (s**t you not) and takes out his inner
rage over not realizing his own dreams on his waiters by
constantly yelling/cursing at them and generally treating them
like senseless half-wits? Here at Michael's, we can promise
you 7 solid shifts a week and then give you 2.

Armed with a
20 table section a shift...you can haphazardly sharpen your
skills by waiting on some of the most high-maintenance clientele
in NYC!!! We ask that you call in everyday before your shift
so we can tell you whether you're working or not...

Plus, you get to do all of this
while looking like a complete tool in your time-warp pink Polo
shirt, diagonal-striped tie and white apron!! Tre-chic! Only
true gluttons for punishment need apply...

From a reply post:

No shit! I trained at this fucking hellhole two years ago and
the memory is still very sharp indeed...

All of the employees seemed overworked
and bitter. And a majority of the clientele thinks that their
shit does not stink and that ther are infallible.

[Shameless Restaurants]

The actor, sentenced in October to 40 months behind bars for vehicular manslaughter, could be released as early as January 2009 thanks...

Source: E! Online - Top Stories | 4 Apr 2008 | 1:45 am

Pre-'60 Minutes' Mike Wallace goes online

Read full story for latest details.

Source: CNN.com - Entertainment | 4 Apr 2008 | 1:25 am

Naomi Spittin' Mad at Airport?

Forget cell phones—Naomi Campbell's apparent new weapon of choice: loogies. The anger-mismanaging supermodel was released on bail early Friday morning after getting arrested yet again,...

Source: E! Online - Top Stories | 4 Apr 2008 | 12:53 am

MySpace to Launch Music Service

Members will be able to listen to free music and buy songs on the site.
Source: ABC News: Entertainment | 4 Apr 2008 | 12:46 am

Ex Clubs 50 Cent with Lawsuit

Is 50 Cent trying to kick his baby mama to the curb?   Ex-girlfriend Shaniqua Tompkins, the mother of the rapper's 10-year-old son, Marquise, has sued Fiddy for breach of contract and...

Source: E! Online - Top Stories | 3 Apr 2008 | 11:50 pm

Matthew McConaughey Considering a Mustache

McConaughey P.I.?: EW reports that Matthew McConaughey has been offered the lead role in an upcoming film version of Magnum P.I., which we doubt he'll take since he'd have to grow a mustache and wear a shirt. [EW]

You Have Wasted Your Life: Two 23-year-olds will have their musical on Broadway next month. We don't feel bad; by 23 we'd already given up on our dreams, so we're actually way ahead of them. [NYT]

Apple Beats Wal-Mart: During the month of January, iTunes was the No. 1 music retailer in the U.S., overtaking Wal-Mart for the first time ever. [Ars Technica]

Apple to Beat MySpace, Too: MySpace announced today that it's teaming up with three major record labels to open a digital-music store to compete with iTunes, a plan almost certainly doomed to fail. [Reuters]

Superbad to Be Unfunnily Parodied: Superbad, contemporary cinema's undisputed high-water mark, is getting its own spoof version by those idiots who made Meet the Spartans and Superhero Movie. We'll stick with the original, thank you very much. [/Film]

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm

Heath Ledger’s Wacky Uncles Won’t Let Love-Child Story Die

Earlier in the week, claims arose that the late Heath Ledger may have had a love child with a woman other than Michelle Williams (mother of his daughter, Matilda). The possibility was raised by one of Heath's press-happy uncles. There was a bunch of confusion for a couple of days, and then today two interviews appeared that should have cleared everything up. OK! spoke with the woman (and her husband), and they swear it's not true — and even offered to undergo a DNA test. But that's not enough for Heath's uncles — another one of them gave an interview to Us Weekly today calling the love child story "berserk," but still refusing to rule it out. "I really feel for the little girl that’s in the middle of this, and my thoughts are with her and her alone," explained Heath's uncle Mike. "The little girl is the most important thing in the whole thing." Is she? Or is it the paychecks you get for exclusive interviews with celebrity magazines, unc?

Heath Ledger's Uncle: Love-Child Reports Are "Absolutely Berserk" [Us Weekly]
Denied: No Love Child for Heath Ledger [OK!]

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 3 Apr 2008 | 11:00 pm

HSM Gets Real This Summer

As if auditioning in front of your friends weren't stressful enough.  Disney-owned ABC is planning to give the supersuccessful High School Musical franchise a dose of reality this summer...

Source: E! Online - Top Stories | 3 Apr 2008 | 10:58 pm

Waris Ahluwalia: Spending $16G on Shoes Is Okay

Bear Stearns collapsed and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernake finally uttered the R-word (that's "recession"), but so what! Lots o' deep pockets gathered at the Hermès store on Wall Street to celebrate the launch of the limited-edition car designed by Bugatti and Hermès. The vehicle costs $2.3 million, so naturally partygoers had no reserves about shelling out upwards of $7,000 on handbags and $350 on scarves. Jeweler Waris Ahluwalia was one — we caught up with him at the checkout counter to talk about (what else?) shoes and money. Since shoes are the new black and the new black is très expensive, how much is too much to spend on them? "I think $20,000 is definitely too much. You can quote me on that. Absolutely way too much. That's absurd. You're paying $20,000 for a pair of shoes, that's insane. You should get your head checked. Anything under is fine," he said. So $8G is okay? "$12,000, $16,000. Yeah. Anything over twenty, that's absurd." Almost as absurd as a $2.3 million car! Or perhaps the time Ahluwalia was audited by the IRS! "They tore me apart," he said. "They kept going, 'What is this? What is this?' What do you mean, 'What is this?"' he added, jabbing his finger at imaginary receipts. Ahluwalia hasn't filed his taxes yet and would like to send the IRS this message: "I love you guys." Because over at the Cut we do what we can to help the rich during tax time. We accept commission in $16,000 shoes. (We kid, IRS guys. We don't get commissions. Please don't audit us.) — Maridel Reyes

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 10:30 pm

Ramiele Says Idol Played Fair

Ramiele Malubay's fellow American Idol finalists stood head and shoulders above her, but she says she never felt overmatched. "I feel it was all an even playing field. We all had our weaknesses...

Source: E! Online - Top Stories | 3 Apr 2008 | 10:25 pm

Alan Schwartz Is Having Trouble Moving On

Just think: Less than three weeks ago Alan D. Schwartz was sunning himself in West Palm Beach without a care in the world. "He has a good twinkle in his eye for the future," former client Michael Eisner said when the former pro-baseball player scored his new gig as the CEO of Bear Stearns. But then Bear collapsed and sent Schwartz down a dark and lonely spiral, and it sounds as though the past few weeks have been a blur of balled-up Kleenex and reruns of All My Children. He emerged today to testify in front of the Senate Banking Committee about the events that led to the collapse. "Mr. Schwartz occasionally sounded plaintive," the Times reported, "as if he were still trying to digest the reality of his firm’s collapse."

“I never dreamed it would be as rapid as the thing that happened here,” he said at one point. “I never understood or dreamed it would happen as rapidly as it did.”

Grim. We can only hope that after it was all over Schwartz's mother bundled him up and took him home for a nice glass of warm milk.

Fed Officials Defend Rescue of Bear Stearns [NYT]
Related: Angry Bear [NYM]

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 3 Apr 2008 | 10:15 pm

50 Cent's Hygiene Is Deplorable

1. G-Unit, "Grimey" In this new track from the upcoming G-Unit album, 50 Cent confesses to being dirty, grimy, and filthy, but stops short of being honest about his acting ability. [Nah Right]

2. R.E.M., "Supernatural Superserious" (live on The Colbert Report)
Stephen Colbert's first-ever musical guests "bona fide rock band" guests turn in a serviceable version of their new single, which doesn't help us like their new album any better, but isn't bad anyway. [Stereogum]

3. Madonna, "4 Minutes to Save the World" (Junkie XL Dirty Dub Mix)
While this remix fails to save Madonna's crappy new single, it's an improvement, at least. [Get Weird Turn Pro]

4. Lupe Fiasco, "Superstar" (Acoustic version)
Sure, this may be the third version of "Superstar" we've featured in Right-Click, but it's the only one that sounds like Dave Matthews had a hand in. [Nah Right]

5. Radiohead, "Nude" (RAC remix)
If there has to be a winner in this silly Radiohead remix contest, we sort of hope it's this one. [I Guess I'm Floating]

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 10:15 pm

Final Season of ‘Battlestar’: Searing Allegory, Hot Robots

Heading into its fourth, final, and (perhaps!) greatest season, BSG remains at heart a gripping parable for our anxious age, turning the religious zealots, military hawks, politicians, and terrorists from the daily news into searing, allegorical television. We know, it sounds like not getting laid for a few months. But while it lacks laser blasters, this hottie-stocked, Peabody-winning drama delivers easy payloads aplenty. It is, in other words, no mere nerdgasm.

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 10:00 pm

Kimberly Stewart Resurfaces for Nail Polish; Marc Jacobs Scent Confuses

NAILS
• We've missed her so much (kidding!), but Kimberly Stewart returns to the limelight as the new face of nail-polish line Ciaté Paint Pots. [Kiss and Makeup]

FRAGRANCE
• Marc Jacobs's Daisy fragrance — “floral without flowers, sweet without sugar” — makes no scents, er sense, to fragrance connoisseurs. Because fashion people have never used language like this before. [Moment/NYT]

MAKEUP
• Mode Cosmetics released a new $8 mineral-powder foundation containing cocoa. Admit it — you want everyone to want to lick your face. [BellaSugar]

• Diane Von Furstenberg and Narciso Rodriguez showed blue eyeliner on models in their fall collections. But if you're liner-challenged, there’s always blue mascara. It makes eyes look “whiter and brighter.” [Sugar Shock Beauty]

HAIR
• This recipe for a hair rinse includes apple-cider vinegar and promises to make hair super shiny. That salad scent is sexy, ya know. [Stylebell]

SKIN
• Lancôme's new Soleil DNA Shimmering Body Oil is a sunscreen that sprays on as a "non-sticky, light mist." It must be good because the company supposedly spent 25 years researching the formula. [British Vogue]

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 9:45 pm

Clinton and McCain to Appear Side by Side on MLK Panel

Hillary Clinton will achieve a much-needed photo op with John McCain next week, reports Newsweek. They'll both be participating in a NBC News forum tomorrow in Memphis to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death. No word yet on whether Obama will participate (his schedule is still open). A photo of McCain and Clinton together, joking around and acting chummy in the way they are wont to do when they are together, might do Clinton a world of good in terms of public perception. It was just over six months ago that she was the presumptive nominee, and part of her strategy was to frame the competition for the presidency as one between her and Rudy Giuliani. Since that has all fallen apart, any opportunity to make voters think of her and McCain (the actual GOP candidate) as a pair is bound to help her out. They sort of make sense together visually, in a way that Obama and McCain do not (because they're short, you jerks). We just have to wonder — what's in it for McCain?

Clinton and McCain Set to Share the Stage Tomorrow in Memphis. Will Obama Join Them? [Stumper/Newsweek]

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 3 Apr 2008 | 9:30 pm

Filmmaker Ry Russo-Young Does the Work of Three Gus Van Sants

Filmmaker Ry Russo-Young is associated these days with the “mumblecore” movement, thanks to her appearance in Hannah Takes the Stairs and her own independent feature, Orphans. But as her 2005 short Marion proves, Russo-Young could carve a pretty successful career for herself making awesome experimental horror flicks. Starting off as an avant-garde reenactment of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, Marion presents three screens in which three different actresses play the part of Marion Crane from the original. Some minuscule differences between the three versions at first come off as minor miscalculations. By the time the shower scene rolls around, however, something altogether different, and more poignant, emerges. Take that, Gus Van Sant! Winner of well-deserved prizes at South by Southwest and the Chicago Film Festival, Marion is distributed by Indiepix on DVD. In the meantime, Russo-Young is finishing up another feature, titled You Won’t Miss Me, and we couldn’t be more excited. —Bilge Ebiri

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 9:30 pm

Meet the New Girl: Georgie Badiel

Georgie Badiel, the newest addition to our Model Manual, is making her home country of Burkina Faso damn proud these days. In 2005, Badiel won Miss Africa. Two years later, she signed with Storm Management in London and quickly started booking shows. Fast-forward to this past February when she walked for DVF and Marc Jacobs . Weeks later she was one of only two black girls to walk for Louis Vuitton . She also has editorials in the upcoming Italian Glamour and Interview, so expect to see more of her. Oh, and she was just photographed by Miles Aldridge for M.A.C Cosmetics. Want to know more? Check out her profile and see the magic that is Georgie. —Kendall Herbst

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 9:15 pm

Wong Kar-Wai Apparently Does Take Off His Sunglasses Sometimes

Don't get us wrong. We love Wong Kar-Wai, the mastermind behind all those lush and atmospheric Hong Kong films (In the Mood for Love, anyone?) and now My Blueberry Nights, his long-awaited road-trip movie set in the States, but the guy's method sounds like it can be a challenge to work with. At the Cinema Society premiere of Blueberry last night, fellow director Ang Lee recalled visiting Wong on set years ago. "Nothing happens, for hours. It's just the way he shoots. Nobody knows what's happening, not even the actors."

One of those actors, David Strathairn, insisted he hadn't felt confused or put off by Wong's method: "It's the kind of hard investigation that I like." (Very Edward R. Murrow!) He did, however, concede that "a lot of people may not cotton to the way he works. It's very intense and very focused. He's crafting what's happening in the frame like a painter, but he's also hunting for something. And when he finds it, he knows it." Singer turned star Norah Jones admitted she'd never heard of Wong before he asked her to star in the film. "I learned nothing about the role before I said yes, and I learned a little about the role before we started shooting … there was no script until just before the start of the shoot."

Finally, at the Soho Grand after-party, we approached Wong himself. He was standing in the back of the room, wearing the same dark glasses he'd had on all night. We asked him what his artistic goals had been in recutting the film after Cannes, where it got mixed reviews. "Just make it shorter," he answered. Tell us about filming in New York, we asked. "The night and day in New York is very different," he replied. Now just what the heck is that supposed to — well, at least now we know he sometimes takes his shades off. —Darrell Hartman

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 9:00 pm

Matt Making Like Magnum?

Hollywood has come up with yet another excuse for Matthew McConaughey to walk around topless onscreen. The Fool's Gold star is on the shortlist of actors Universal Pictures is eyeing...

Source: E! Online - Top Stories | 3 Apr 2008 | 8:50 pm

Breaking: Naomi Campbell Arrested at Heathrow

Ho ho, Naoms is at it again! After the model threw a phone at her maid over a missing pair of jeans more than a year ago, Naomi Campbell's temper has finally gotten the better of her. This time saliva was her weapon of choice, according to the AP:

LONDON - Supermodel Naomi Campbell was arrested at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 Thursday for allegedly spitting at a police officer, Sky News television reported.

A London Metropolitan Police spokesman said a woman was arrested at the terminal for an assault on police, but refused to disclose her identity or give her age.

The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity in line with force policy.

Well, someone better start talking soon because this sounds like one loogy of a story.

Sky: Naomi Campbell arrested at Heathrow [AP via Yahoo]

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 8:45 pm

Randi Rhodes Suspended at Air America for ‘Hillary Is a Big F**king Whore’ Comment

Shortly after a YouTube video surfaced earlier this week of Air America host Randi Rhodes calling Hillary Clinton a "big fucking whore," the network suspended her indefinitely. "Air America encourages strong opinions about public affairs but does not condone such abusive, ad hominem language by our hosts," network honcho Charlie Kireker said in a statement (for the record, Rhodes also repeatedly called Geraldine Ferraro a "whore"). This is going to leave three hours a day of Air America hostless, and the network has not announced any replacements. This has been compared in the press to when MSNBC's David Shuster was suspended for saying that Hillary Clinton was "pimping out" her daughter, Chelsea, on the campaign trail. Except in that case, Shuster was using a common humorous colloquialism in an insensitive context. Randi Rhodes, if you watch the tape above, pretty clearly says that Hillary will have sex with you for money. And when she does, she'll haggle.

Air America Host Suspended for Clinton Remarks
Earlier: MSNBC’s David Shuster Maybe Shouldn’t Have Called Chelsea Clinton a Whore

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 3 Apr 2008 | 8:45 pm

How Stars Handle Hard Hits, Sexy Scenes

Clooney, Krasinski and Kunis talk about getting down and dirty on set.
Source: ABC News: Entertainment | 3 Apr 2008 | 8:39 pm

Malawi Gov't Down with Madonna Adoption

Malawi wants to keep Madonna and child together. Government officials in the African nation have given their blessing to the Material Mom's bid to adopt David Banda, the 2-year-old boy she...

Source: E! Online - Top Stories | 3 Apr 2008 | 8:38 pm

Meryl Streep Rules and Graydon Carter Jabs ‘Vanity Fair’ at Poetry Bash

Meryl Streep played enforcer Tuesday night at the Academy of American Poets benefit at Avery Fisher Hall, where a passel of celebs (Streep, Katie Couric, Graydon Carter, Jonathan Demme, Candace Bushnell, and John Guare among them) read works by — and we stress this — DEAD AMERICAN POETS only! Unfortunately, we learned this the hard way when we hit up Streep pre-show to ask who her favorite contemporary poet was. "We don't do contemporary poets at the Academy of American Poets," said Streep. "Because if you say one name, then somebody else has their nose out of joint. We only talk about dead poets here."

It was a good thing, too, because of all the literary types there, only John Guare could name-check a favorite contemporary poet. (He recommended Mark Strand, C.K. Williams, Craig Arnold, and Sarah Manguso.) Said Graydon Carter: "My [favorite] poetry tends to be more than 50 to 100 years old." That night, he read a vintage piece that was a clever dig at his own image: a Dorothy Parker verse about working at Vanity Fair circa 1920, before defecting to The New Yorker. "Our Office: A Hate Song," it was called, and began: "I hate the office — it cuts in on my social life." And continued:

"There is the Boss;
The Great White Chief.
He made us what we are to-day,—
I hope he's satisfied."

—Tim Murphy

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 8:15 pm

State Senators, They're Just Like Us! And We, We're a Bunch Of Weirdos.

East Village: Jeremiah, if you keep taking us down fascinating, nostalgic wormholes, like this one about the old Ratner's spot on Second Avenue, we'll never get our work done and save up the money we need for that new luxury condo in Alphabet City! So stop! Wait, just kidding, don't! [Jeremiah's Vanishing NY]
Harlem: The owner of a handsome 1903 building in the footprint of Columbia's planned expansion wants the school to move it four blocks south, not demolish it. [amNY]
Jamaica: It seems even "savvy" state senators are not immune to personal foreclosure misery, even if this one claims she defaulted on her mortgage so she could feel the pain of her constituents. [NYDN via Queens Crap]

Southeast Bronx: A grove of young black birch trees, donated by Monaco's Prince Albert in memory of locals who died on 9/11, was looted in Ferry Point Park. Hey, thieves, we hope someone yanks up your saplings, too! [Newsday via Talk Bronx]
Tribeca: So what exactly will that luxury building going up at the top of the erstwhile triangle below Canal actually look like? Does anyone out there have renderings? [Curbed]
Upper East Side: Okay, now that we know that the weird-looking "Bride of Frankenstein" lady is just good old Sister Marlene who feeds the birds in Carl Schurz Park, who's the fortysomething chubby Asian transsexual who carries around the Conway shopping bags? [78thand2nd]

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 3 Apr 2008 | 8:10 pm

Henri Dutilleux

Britain's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra announced Thursday it had awarded its prestigious Gold Medal to veteran 92 year-old French composer Henri Dutilleux, seen here in 2007.
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 3 Apr 2008 | 8:01 pm

‘Project Runway’ Wins Peabody (No, We Don’t Know Why)

The Peabody Awards honor excellence in news and entertainment broadcasting. This year's recipients, announced yesterday, include Bob Woodruff for his series on wounded war veterans, 30 Rock, Discovery's nature documentary Planet Earth, and Project Runway. Yes, Project Runway, the first reality show ever to win a Peabody. We furrowed our brow at the news because as Jillian Lewis and Christian Siriano noted, the show's gotten kind of stale. Yes, we adore it, but more in the guilty pleasure way we enjoy watching Rock of Love With Brett Michaels (that's right — the Cut knows no shame). Will the world benefit from anyone taking the show more seriously than they already have? Not so much. Unless everyone picks up Tim Gunn's vocabulary, which would be kind of awesome. But this is reality TV, people — the stuff born of the Real World and Survivor. Let's keep that in mind next year, Peabodsters.

Journalists Wounded in Iraq Among Peabody Winners [WP]

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 8:00 pm

Bobby Writes Off Whitney

Bobby Brown was not the bad guy in his marriage to Whitney Houston. According to Bobby Brown. In a new book, Brown, best known now for his frequent run-ins with the law rather than his onetime...

Source: E! Online - Top Stories | 3 Apr 2008 | 7:58 pm

A Fresh New Spokesman for Paterson

David Paterson is losing Christine Anderson, the communications director that he inherited from Eliot Spitzer, and hiring a glamorous new one for an impressive $175,000 a year. (Really, no press person should ever have to go through what Anderson went through with Spitzer and Paterson both last month. Our heads nearly exploded trying to write about the scandals — imagine trying to come up with excuses for them!) The replacement is 28-year-old whiz kid Risa Heller, who was formerly Chuck Schumer's tireless spokesman. Anderson will stay on for a while as an adviser. Look how happy Risa is in this photo! Sure, sure — it's all fun and games when you get into the job after someone else explains all those trips to the Days Inn.

GOVERNOR PATERSON ANNOUNCES ADMINISTRATION APPOINTMENT [NY.gov]
Heller for Paterson [NYDN]

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 3 Apr 2008 | 7:35 pm

Artist Eva Davidova Takes Disciplinary Action Against Flying Kid

Eva Davidova has taken a booted youngster and levitated him against a bathroom wall. Is this an image of what happens when naughty junior wizards are told to stand in the corner at school? In other of Davidova's photographs, on view at Magnan Emrich Contemporary gallery in Chelsea through May 10, naked women disappear into tiny chairs and make walls all gooey and wobbly with their out-flung arms. What would Harry Potter say? —Emma Pearse

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 7:30 pm

Hannah Montana–fication Continues With Bad Highlights

Now that 8-year-olds are getting bikini waxes and 10th-birthday parties have moved from the roller rink to the nail salon, we're not really surprised by the revelation in today's "Style" section in the Times that hair highlights are to middle-school girls what Christian Louboutins are to uptown socialites. This is sad in and of itself, but what's more tragic is the tots want the streaky, fake look Hannah Montana sports. Take 11-year-old Lexi James, who longed for the salon after her sister got her hair professionally relaxed:

“I wanted highlights, you know, and the salon thing,” Lexi said, explaining that the idea of being pampered seemed fun.

In her case, “the salon thing” meant a couple of hours at Toadly Kool Me, a children’s hair salon in nearby Fayetteville. For $45, Lexi would receive six caramel streaks of permanent color along her part, for a look she described as “a little punky,” followed by a blow dry and flat ironing.

“Lexi works hard, gets good grades,” her mother said. “I feel like she deserves a treat.”

We remember when a "treat" meant getting a big, fat scoop of ice cream after school. So thanks, Hannah Montana, for pushing today's youth away from the simple pleasures of yore. Though Manhattan salon owners, who charge $200 to $400 for highlights, are happy for the business in these penny-pinching times, one ponders, "I wonder what message we are sending the girls.”

Hmm, we bet that message is that image is everything. Or that it's okay to copy everything Hannah Montana does. We've said it before, but we'll say it again — Miley Cyrus is as wholesome as a slice of wheat toast now, but so was Britney Spears once upon a time. Maybe parents should encourage their daughters to take up some of her more substantial attributes like, er, her ability to sing or act. Those lessons cost the same as bad hair streaks and are actually good for the brain, while bad highlights are good for nothing.

A Girl’s Life, With Highlights [NYT]
Related: Little Girls Everywhere Want to Be Like Miley Cyrus — It Scares Us

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 7:20 pm

Stephen Malkmus Show Recommends New Album for Jukebox Pantheon

Stephen Malkmus has always approached music like a fast-learning alien virtuoso who’s only recently been introduced to both the guitar and the English language, and with his interests having tended toward stoner rock for a number of years now, it would make sense that he’s invented some idiosyncratic soloing techniques. He plays electric guitar solos with his thumb and index finger like he’s picking a bluegrass hoedown, and cleanly miked acoustic guitar solos with a pick and a raggedness that one would typically deploy alongside quite a bit of distortion. Regardless — no one at the Music Hall of Williamsburg last night had any problem with the quirks of Malkmus-brand shreddage.

The erstwhile Pavement front man and his backing band, the Jicks, pretty much gave the audience all it could handle: When they were done with the vicious garage-rock jam at the end of “Baltimore,” the third song of their encore, everyone in the crowd simply turned on their heels and headed for the exits without waiting for the lights to go on. Well, you can’t top that, you could hear them thinking. Perhaps one show can’t single-handedly elevate an album to classic status, but if the band’s previous two nights at the Bowery Ballroom were as fierce as yesterday’s show, there are probably a lot of impressed New York City bartenders doing whatever it is one does to add a new disc to the jukebox. When an icon with a back catalogue of beloved tunes plays a set almost exclusively picked from his new album and receives nothing but love and devil horns in return, then that album probably deserves a space between Songs for the Deaf and Back in Black. Special credit for this achievement must naturally be shared with the Jicks: bassist Joanna Bolme, drummer Janet Weiss (who, of course, powered Sleater-Kinney for many years), and especially guitarist Mike Clark, who managed to adeptly match Malkmus’s phrasing in the guitar duets that punctuate songs like “Dragonfly Pie.” That must be difficult, for someone raised on Earth. —Ben Mathis-Lilley

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 7:00 pm

Court Orders Raffaello Follieri to Pay Publicists for Breach of Contract

According to papers filed in D.C. civil court, a judge has ordered Italian church developer and Anne Hathaway boyfriend Raffaello Follieri to pay around $250,000 to the Carmen Group, the D.C. public-relations group who sued him for nonpayment back in October. Follieri had hired Carmen in the wake of another highly publicized lawsuit, in which supermarket magnate Ron Burkle claimed Follieri sank the money Burkle gave him to develop church properties into fancy dinners, clothes, and "his movie star girlfriend." Follieri denied those charges and eventually settled with Burkle, agreeing in Delaware Court to pay him back in property since he couldn't come up with the funds. He denied not paying Carmen, too, telling the Post, “The Carmen Group worked with the Follieri Group for one month and were paid for one month,” back in October. But then he defaulted on the complaint and never showed up at the hearing in January — although he did make it to the Miss Sixty show a week later. We hope he didn't spend too much money on clothes — otherwise we know where someone's Get Smart royalties are going.

Earlier: Intel's coverage of Raffaello Follieri's dirty deeds

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 3 Apr 2008 | 6:30 pm

Vulture's Summer Movie Review

In the coming weeks, every magazine in America (including New York, we assume) will offer their summer movie preview, pumping up the nation's moviegoers for the May-to-August season of explosions, superheroes, fast-food tie-ins, and remakes of sorta-popular TV shows. But hell, anyone can preview the summer; it's apparent to us that the new trend is reviewing things before they even happen, whether they're albums that haven't been released yet or movies you've only seen the trailer of. So we here at the Vulture Department of Predicting the Future are pleased to offer our Summer Movie Review — in which we reveal the critical reaction and box-office results of summer 2008's biggest popcorn flicks. We even got Paul Dergarabedian to weigh in!

May 1: Iron Man
Solid reviews and the kickass trailer probably don't hurt, but it's only when they find out that Ghostface Killah makes a cameo appearance in the film that reluctant audiences are moved to stop playing Grand Theft Auto IV (which was released the same week) and head to theaters. "The movie's okay," declares the New York Times' Manohla Dargis. "But Ghostface is spellbinding."

Rotten Tomatoes score: 81%
First-weekend box office: $70 million
Total box office: $246 million
Paul Dergarabedian quote: "Audiences love Ghostface Killah! What a start to the summer!"

May 9: Speed Racer
The Wachowski brothers' movie gets panned by critics, who complain bitterly that the candy-colored, frenetic Speed Racer has no story, no characters, and no believable dialogue. It turns out those old-fashioned qualities have no place in the summer of 2008, though, as audiences feel the need for speed. Says Logan Hill of New York, "I have been driven insane by this live-action cartoon and am now a resident of Bellevue Hospital."

Rotten Tomatoes score: 12%
First-weekend box office: $61 million
Total box office: $226 million
Paul Dergarabedian quote: "Audiences really attended this movie in large numbers! This summer looks to be one of the best ever for the Hollywood box office!"

May 22: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Owing to the fact that he didn't write or direct it, and was distracted during much of its making with the development of its spinoff Lego video game, George Lucas utterly fails to ruin our memories of another beloved film trilogy, and Kingdom features dialogue that doesn't make everyone want to hammer sharpened pencils into their ears. Critics are lukewarm on Shia LaBeouf's performance, impressed with how lifelike Harrison Ford still looks, and across-the-board wowed by Cate Blanchett, who goes on to earn the first Oscar nomination ever to be announced in June.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 76%
First-weekend box office: $83 million
Total box office: $307 million
Paul Dergarabedian quote: "Indiana Jones whipped all box-office records this weekend! And it's only May!"

May 30: Sex and the City: The Movie
Despite flood-the-zone coverage in the New York Times — including an unprecedented one-day sweep of the front pages of "Sunday Styles," "Arts & Leisure," the Times Magazine, and the Book Review (for "Carrie Bradshaw's" review of Salman Rushdie's new novel, The Enchantress of Florence) — SATC fails to catch on with audiences, who are alienated by the mid-film slaying of Mr. Big. Critics, too, are unimpressed, for the most part — Slate's Dana Stevens proclaims it "The kind of movie that makes you want to snap your credit cards in half out of shame," while the Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen Hunter declares it "a triumph for feminism."

Rotten Tomatoes score: 41%
First-weekend box office: $19 million
Total box office: $61 million
Paul Dergarabedian quote: "Mr. Big may be a character in this movie, but the adjective that makes up his name was not apropos to this movie's box office! However, every other movie this summer will be fabulously successful."

June 13: The Happening
M. Night Shyamalan's follow-up to Razzie-winning Lady in the Water features a global-warming-fueled environmental phenomenon which causes Earth's entire population to spontaneously make violent attempts on their own lives. In Shyamalan's most shocking surprise twist ever, the movie is even worse than that sounds. Reviews are universally unkind and A.O. Scott compares it (unfavorably) to that Simpsons "Treehouse of Horror" episode where everyone in Springfield kills themselves.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 14%
First-weekend box office: $11 million
Total box office: $12 million
Paul Dergarabedian quote: "In June, audiences aren't really so much in the mood for films about people killing themselves. Fox would've been wise to put it out during Oscar season when it would've been a feel-good movie. But the summer box office is still on track, thanks to The Incredible Hulk!"

June 13: The Incredible Hulk
Critics despise this new version of the green-skinned smashing machine's story, proclaiming it witless, obvious, and as dense as its hero. The Village Voice's J. Hoberman reads the film as an apologia for the Iraq war — with Bruce Banner representing the American people, and the Hulk representing the military-industrial complex — and the interpretation spreads widely through the critical community. Nonetheless, the film is an enormous success, and the Monday trades are filled with the news that "HULK SMASH" the all-time record for best second-weekend-in-June opening.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 14%
First-weekend box office: $63 million
Total box office: $185 million
Paul Dergarabedian quote: "Audiences did like the Hulk when he got angry, and the box office swelled as if it had been injected with a radioactive substance! What a summer!"

June 20: The Love Guru
Paramount does not screen The Love Guru for critics, but audiences aren't fooled; Mike Myers is the only person in America who purchases a ticket for this misbegotten comedy, and even he sees a Saturday matinee. In an unprecedented show of sympathy, the nation's critics do not review the film.

Rotten Tomatoes score: N/A
First-weekend box office: $5.50
Total box office: $5.50
Paul Dergarabedian quote: "Mike Myers is a huge star, so he'll bounce back. But the summer is really humming along!"

July 2: Hancock
Will Smith's future bankability is called into question when Hancock, about the trails of an alcoholic superhero, fails at the box office after being roundly criticized as unrealistic. "If he's a superhero, wouldn't he have been born with superhuman liver function, thus making it impossible for him to get drunk?" asks The New Yorker's David Denby.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 38%
First-weekend box office: $26 million
Total box office: $78 million
Paul Dergarabedian quote: "Hey, what did you expect? The trailer looked really shitty! But movies about sober superheroes are still performing well this summer!"

July 18: The Dark Knight
As anticipated, Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins sequel is dark, absorbing, epic, and awesome, garnering universal acclaim from the nation's critics and sparking awards buzz for Heath Ledger's incendiary final completed film role as the Joker ("He's a lock for Best Actor!" proclaims Gold Derby's Tom O'Neil, five minutes into a screening). Sadly, the moviegoing public, so confused by Knight's complicated promotional alternate-reality game, accidentally goes to see Mamma Mia!, which opens on the same day, instead.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%
First-weekend box office: $0
Total box office: $220 million
Paul Dergarabedian quote: "The Dark Knight? Does that have something to do with Harvey Dent's campaign for district attorney?"

August 8: Pineapple Express
Even though Seth Rogen wrote it and David Gordon Green directed it, Express is widely hailed as Judd Apatow's return to form after the failures of Drillbit Taylor and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, both of which he was also minimally involved with. The movie, about a pair of stoners on the run from the mob after witnessing a murder, is such a hit with critics and audiences that both nominated presidential candidates flirt briefly with adding pot decriminalization to their platforms before eventually just pledging, should they win, to double-criminalize murder.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%
First-weekend box office: $33 million
Total box office: $124 million
Paul Dergarabedian quote: "Judd Apatow is back! What a summer!"

August 15: Tropic Thunder
Tom Cruise's cameo as a bald, angry studio executive garners such great buzz that Paramount head Sumner Redstone demands Cruise's role be expanded. Hurried summer reshoots in front of a green screen produce an additional hour of Cruise footage, which is smoothly inserted throughout the film. Critics and audiences alike love the character and sweep Tropic Thunder to an astonishing run at the box office; by September, Fat Angry Tom Cruise and Blackface Robert Downey Jr. have both had spinoff films green-lit.

Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%
Weekend box office: $43.8 million
Total box office: $201 million
Paul Dergarabedian quote: "This movie was shown in theaters! The box-office results of this film can be expressed in digits!"

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 6:30 pm

Naomi Campbell arrested at airport

Read full story for latest details.

Source: CNN.com - Entertainment | 3 Apr 2008 | 6:22 pm

‘Awesome Possum’ Fur Enters the Eco Fray

The brushtail possum was introduced to New Zealand from Australia in the 1800s to jump-start a fur-trade. But the native Australian marsupials found New Zealand's endangered native flora so tasty they're now destroying forests and have been labeled an "invasive species." If you're a tree in New Zealand, that's a bad thing, but if you're Eco-Luxury Fur LLC, that's, uh, a good thing? Eco-Luxury is marketing the possum pelts in the U.S. as "Eco-Fur." You know, if it's killing trees in New Zealand, we shouldn't feel bad about wearing it. That kind of thing.

The marketing strategy might be new, but using the possums for their fur isn't. Once used as aircraft insulation, brushtail pelts now make very soft wool-blend sweaters and thong panties (no joke). But even in this green-crazed country, it's unclear if the new marketing ploy will work. First, people who are against killing animals will always be against killing animals. Second, Americans who aren't joining the ranks of PETA are kinda grossed out by the whole "possum" part. And one shop owner in Portland, Oregon, who carries the "eco-fur" says no one's buying it and no one cares about its "eco" label. Even so, "eco-fur" is a much better — though far more boring — stamp than Eco-Luxury's initial label idea, "Awesome Possum."

The Problem with 'Eco-Fur'? It's Still Fur [WSJ]

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 6:00 pm

MySpace

MySpace said Thursday it plans to launch a bilingual version of its leading social-networking website tailored to US Latinos.
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 3 Apr 2008 | 5:48 pm

Katie Lee Joel's Man Loaf Is Really Amazing

Until today, there were four reasons that, despite our better judgment, we kind of loved Katie Lee Joel. 1. She is from West Virginia and met Billy Joel in a hotel lobby when she was 21 and he was 54 and got him to marry her. "We joke that he's very immature for his age, because he has a job that has allowed him to be, and I am very mature for my age," she once said. "So we sort of meet in the middle." 2. She has stayed married him for five entire years, even though he has shown no real signs of dying any time soon.

3. Despite not having to work, she does anyway.
4. Even though she got replaced on Top Chef by that other lady who likes 'em short, round, bald, and old, she has persevered with her dream of becoming a food star, lately with her new cookbook, The Comfort Table which she celebrated the release of the other night.

If this life trajectory does not embody the current version of the American Dream, we don't know what does.

And then today, we discovered a fifth reason we love Katie Lee Joel. Apparently, she has created very special dish that she completely unselfconsciously calls "Man Loaf," as though that is not the grossest name for a thing ever, and she talks about it all the time, most recently, "Page Six" tells us, to Beth Ostrovsky at her book party. “God, is it moist, too! That is really moist!” Oprah said, when Katie and Billy brought it on the show. We bet Billy got a chuckle out of that.

Magic Loaf [NYP]

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 3 Apr 2008 | 5:45 pm

Jerry Seinfeld OK After Brakes Fail, Car Flips Over

Jerry Seinfeld was in a harrowing rollover wreck but was unhurt after the brakes on one of his vintage cars failed.
Source: FOXNews.com | 3 Apr 2008 | 5:32 pm

Why Designers Aren't Safe These Days

Over the past two years, major fashion houses have chewed through head designers like a small order of fries. One minute you're hot, and the next you're, well, gone. Take Ferré, where Lars Nilsson was ousted (and just replaced by the 6267 designers) before he even completed one collection. Isabel Toledo lasted only two seasons at Anne Klein. Paulo Melim Andersson completed only three collections for Chloé, where an assistant recently took his place. And Peter Dundas made only three collections for Emmanuel Ungaro, where Esteban Cortazar took his post. The common thread? Labels struggle to find designers who can at once revitalize an established brand and make commercially appealing clothes. The Times reports:

“The problem is that the talent pool is too young for some of these big positions,” said Kim Vernon, a luxury brand consultant. “They never learned how to be creative and design in a business.”

What concerns Ms. Vernon is that there are fewer seasoned designers than available positions. Ungaro, a company with $250 million in sales and numerous licenses to support, raised eyebrows when it replaced Mr. Dundas with Mr. Cortazar, a 23-year-old design prodigy. As Mounir Moufarrige, the chief executive of Ungaro, told Women’s Wear Daily at the time, “The brand has aged, and it needs buzz — and fast.”

But stories like Nilsson's are troubling: The designer said he complained to Ferré management if, say, the embroidery on the garments he designed didn't meet his standards. Could that have contributed to his dismissal? Perhaps fashion houses need to figure out a way to help designers grow on the job, rather than throwing them out like last season's shoe.

The Latest in Fashion: Pink Slips [NYT]

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 5:15 pm

Do Musicians Need to Sell Out to Break Out?

For artists new and old, commercials are key to attracting listeners.
Source: ABC News: Entertainment | 3 Apr 2008 | 4:59 pm

New Kids on the Block reuniting

Read full story for latest details.

Source: CNN.com - Entertainment | 3 Apr 2008 | 4:57 pm

Celine Dion

Canadian singer Celine Dion, seen here perfroming in Dubai March 2008, postponed a concert in the Chinese capital Beijing because the original venue was unsuitable -- and not because of sandstorms, according...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 3 Apr 2008 | 4:31 pm

Louis Vuitton Makes Its Brooklyn Debut, Street-Vendor Style

The Takashi Murakami–Louis Vuitton exhibit kicks off tonight at the Brooklyn Museum with a swanky party and the requisite performance by Kanye West. If you're going, make sure your handbag or cleavage has room for a credit card because you'll have ample opportunity to purchase Vuitton goods before you even walk through the door. In a courageous statement against counterfeit handbags, real Louis Vuitton handbags and the new Monogramoflauge canvases will be sold on ten tables outside the museum. You know, street-vendor style. "We think that by highlighting it in a happening way and not in a boring way, it will make everybody more aware," Yves Carcelle, chairman and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton told WWD. So … the idea is that if an unaware tourist tries to buy a bag thinking she can afford it, the cashiers can cry "Ha-ha! Gotcha!" and then give her a pamphlet about the counterfeit industry? There are going to be a lot of embarrassed people in Brooklyn tonight.

Fighting the Fakes: Louis Vuitton and Murakami Make a Show of It [WWD]
Related: Louis Vuitton's ‘Monogramoflauge’ Revealed!

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 3 Apr 2008 | 3:45 pm

Jay-Z Close to Reaching $150 Million Deal

Jay-Z is close to reaching a $150 million deal with Live Nation Inc. that will give the concert promoter a stake in virtually every aspect of the rapper and entrepreneur's career, according to news reports.
Source: FOXNews.com | 3 Apr 2008 | 3:20 pm

Kimmel dumps Affleck for ... Simmons?

Read full story for latest details.

Source: CNN.com - Entertainment | 3 Apr 2008 | 3:12 pm

Soprano Natalie Dessay performs "La Fille du Regiment" (The Daughter of the Regiment) at the Vienna State Opera

Soprano Natalie Dessay performs "La Fille du Regiment" (The Daughter of the Regiment) at the Vienna State Opera, late April 2007. Vienna State Opera, one of the world's most prestigious opera houses, has...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 3 Apr 2008 | 2:48 pm

Vienna State Opera director Ion Hollander (R) dances with Russian soloist Anna Netrebko in 2004

Vienna State Opera director Ion Hollander (R) takes the first dance with Russian soloist Anna Netrebko (L) during the Opera Ball in Vienna in 2004. Vienna State Opera, one of the world's most prestigious...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 3 Apr 2008 | 2:48 pm

'How I Met Your Mother' Open to Having Britney Spears Return

An executive producer for "How I Met Your Mother" says he's open to having Britney Spears return for another cameo.
Source: FOXNews.com | 3 Apr 2008 | 1:58 pm

Jay-$: Rapper Closes in on $150M Deal

Report: Jay-Z set to follow Madonna and U2, and ink mega-deal with Live Nation.
Source: ABC News: Entertainment | 3 Apr 2008 | 1:51 pm

Woman Charged With Stalking John Cusack

A woman who was ordered to stay away from John Cusack was charged Wednesday with a felony count of stalking.
Source: FOXNews.com | 3 Apr 2008 | 1:46 pm

Seinfeld Survives Harrowing Car Crash

The comedian walks away from crash, but isn't laughing.
Source: ABC News: Entertainment | 3 Apr 2008 | 1:44 pm

Mel Gibson Asks Court to Seal 'Passion' Records

Mel Gibson, who's being sued by a writer over payment for the "The Passion of the Christ" screenplay, wants to keep financial information about the blockbuster movie out of the public eye.
Source: FOXNews.com | 3 Apr 2008 | 1:40 pm

Steve Irwin's Father Quits Family's Conservation Park

The father of late television star Steve Irwin said he quit the family's Australian conservation park because he had become a "disrupting influence," although the widow of the khaki-clad "Crocodile Hunter" denies a rift in the clan.
Source: FOXNews.com | 3 Apr 2008 | 1:20 pm

'Idol' cuts another to get down to eight

Read full story for latest details.

Source: CNN.com - Entertainment | 3 Apr 2008 | 12:44 pm

Mia Farrow to Broadcast From Darfur During Beijing Olympics

As the world turns its attention to Beijing and the Summer Olympic Games, Mia Farrow will be broadcasting from a Sudanese refugee camp to highlight China's involvement in the region.
Source: FOXNews.com | 3 Apr 2008 | 12:44 pm