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After a cruel year and a half wait, a new crop of fabulous, nasty, but all totally talented hairstylists are back for a second season of snipping and snippiness. Stylist and gay icon Rene Fris is now onboard as the Tim Gunn–style mentor, and contestant-wise, we’re predicting a few especially drama-conducive personalities: Flirty Nekisa, whose secret weapon is “a teasing product”; Charlie the queeny gay dude; and Meredith, who loves masculine cuts mixed “with tons of feminism.”
AP - He won the affection of millions of people on "American Idol," but this weekend, Ruben Studdard is giving his heart to one woman.
AP - He won the affection of millions of people on "American Idol," but this weekend, Ruben Studdard is giving his heart to one woman.
AP - He won the affection of millions of people on "American Idol," but this weekend, Ruben Studdard is giving his heart to one woman.
AP - Coldplay's new album is already living the life.
AP - Barack Obama didn't attend the BET Awards, but that didn't stop attendees from talking about him.
AP - T-Pain and Lil Wayne have owned the music scene over the past year: It seems as if T-Pain's voice has accented half the hits on urban radio, while Lil Wayne, another ubiquitous collaborator, has appeared on the rest.
Reuters - At first thought, Robert
Plant might seem an unlikely outlet for a celebration of
Americana. But think about the myriad sounds from the colonies
that Led Zeppelin melded into its music, and it makes sense.
Here's what we love: TV Guide, the magazine devoted to sitting on our butts watching TV wants to give us tips for getting in shape.
Why do you think we enjoy television, TV Guide?...
Reuters - Will Smith's powers are
even more extraordinary than those of a caped crusader who can
"I'd like to thank T-Pain for gettin' on the record with me," said Kanye West, a two-time winner...
Hollywood is going wild for Sen. Barack Obama right now.
Literally: There's a rally for the Democratic White House hopeful going on at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and it's...
AP - What looked at first like another PR blow to "Valkyrie," the twice-delayed Tom Cruise film based on the true story of a German officer who plotted to assassinate Hitler, turned out to be a case of mistaken photo identity.
The game is still on as far as Ashley Dupré's camp is concerned.
A source tells E! News that the notorious New Yorker's lawsuit against Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis...
Just as breathtaking the second time around.Photo: imaxtree
Related: This Vivienne Westwood Model Is Not Like the Others
When Britney Spears showed up today for court in an understated white blouse and khaki pants, we figured perhaps she thought she was going to the court of Gap. Silly us. She obviously picked a...
From left: Salvatore Ferragamo, Moschino, and Gucci.Photo: imaxtree
Menswear Spring 2009
Salvatore Ferragamo
Moschino
Gucci
Missoni
Costume National Homme
Neil Barrett
Bottega Veneta
Gianfranco Ferré
John Richmond
Evisu
Alessandro Dell'Acqua
At least she got revenge hot.Photo: WireImage
Lucky for her, her ex-boyfriend was arrested the week after she was relieved of her U.S. press duties for the film. Because even Stephen Huvane would not have been able to stop Diane Sawyer from asking her about the FBI report on him (we hope), especially since some of the money Follieri allegedly defrauded a client out of was spent on Hathaway herself. The first question out of Diane's mouth would have probably been the same one on everybody's mind at the moment: "Why didn't you see this coming?" After the whole tax-evasion thing, the publicist-stiffing thing, the check-bouncing thing, and the pissing–off–President Clinton thing, why was she still sticking around? Did she just believe it every time Follieri brushed off the lawsuits and the arrests as unfair or untrue?
Back around the time when his name first appeared in The Wall Street Journal, we talked to an old friend of Hathaway's, who told us that she just didn't believe all of it. "She's in love," we were told. Even when friends tried to point out that Follieri seemed like a phony, she wouldn't listen. Most people would have woken up and smelled the fraud coffee long before, a blogger pointed out on Jezebel today. Anne is like that friend you have who believes the married man she is sleeping with will leave his wife every time he says it, even though you all know it's not true.
Do you have a friend like that? Who will believe anything that their significant other says because the alternative is scary? If so, stop thinking Anne Hathaway is so dumb. She may have carried on the charade for herself longer than most, but she's essentially made the mistake that tons of people make every day: thinking that love can be a basis of trust, instead of the other way around. If you think it's ridiculous, then why are movies with exactly this type of plotline (occasionally starring Anne Hathaway herself) so damn popular?
Earlier: Raffaello Follieri Arrested!
Move over David Hasselhoff!
The star of NBC's new Knight Rider, Justin Bruening, is speeding into town.
The 28-year-old former model (duh!) was recently in Utah training at...
Gretchen Bleiler.Photo: Getty Images
• Athletes like snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler and basketball players Steve Nash and Alonzo Mourning are backing Mission Products, an athlete-targeted skin-care line designed to protect and revive skin. [AdFreak]
FRAGRANCE
• Strange Invisible Perfumes will release Musc Botanique in September, smelling like, yes, musk. Founder Alexandra Balahoutis was going for a subtle, animalistic quality. [WWD]
NAILS
• Now you can fake your pedi with dry nail-polish appliqués. Companies like Incoco and Avon make stickers, so you don’t have to wait for your tootsies to dry. But you will need the patience to put stickers on your toenails. [Girls in the Beauty Department/Glamour]
MAKEUP
• Givenchy’s makeup products include Black Denim and Indigo Denim eye-powder and cream sets, as part of the Denim Fetiche Collection. So your face can look like blue jeans! [Chic Report/Fashion Week Daily]
• M.A.C's got yet another new collection, called Colour Forms. The makeup is bright, as is the packaging. Glad to see the company expanding from the basic black boxes. [Temptalia]
• It’s National Pollinator Awareness Week, and Burt’s Bees is wasting no time getting involved. It's donating 5 percent of every purchase to the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign and its Honeybee Health Improvement Project. Yes, these things really exist. [Teen Vogue]
For those of you just tuning in, here's the quick idiot's guide.
Back in 2005, Raffaello Follieri took a bunch of money from supermarket magnate Ron Burkle and associates of Burkle's for his Follieri Foundation. He told them planned to use his family's v. v. close ties to the Vatican in order to purchase Roman Catholic Church properties in the U.S. at low prices, flip them, and sell them. Follieri was very charming, and the investors he spoke to thought this sounded like a great idea.
Doug Band, the adviser to former president Bill Clinton, a Burkle investor, even introduced him to the president, who then publicly praised the Follieri Foundation's work vaccinating children in Honduras. But as time went on, Burkle noticed something funny was going on. Although Follieri was spending plenty of money — on apartments, on fancy dinners and vacations with his girlfriend, Devil Wears Prada star Anne Hathaway — he didn't seem to really be buying any church properties. And the churches he did buy weren't being developed: In Pittsburgh, people were freaking out about it.
By the time Burkle filed suit against Follieri for misappropriating funds, he had spent $50 million for only ten properties and been photographed at the Waverly Inn approximately a bajillion times. (Is this why Vanity Fair hasn't covered this?) In September 2007, The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page juicy story about the shady dealings of the "handsome and charming" Italian businessman. Soon after, in March, Follieri's D.C.-based PR firm sued him for nonpayment. In April, he was arrested for bouncing a $215,000 check. Eventually he settled — supposedly — with Burkle, paying him back $1.3 million in November. He continued swanning around with Hathaway and was noted by "Page Six" to have met with the Sultan of Brunei in London.
On Christmas Eve last year, Roger Cohen in the Times likened Follieri to Roberto Calvi, the Italian banker who cheated the bank of Italy out of billions and "ended up hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London."
It is worth noting that Hathaway reportedly did not dump Follieri until just last week.
So, anyway, today Follieri was arrested. A criminal indictment unsealed in federal court rehashes many of Burkle's previous claims that Follieri was misappropriating funds and contains liberal anecdotage from "a primary investor" who is clearly very ticked off. Is this primary investor Burkle? Most likely, although the U.S. Attorney's office won't say, and Radar, the magazine Burkle allegedly owns, is conspicuously silent on the matter. But one thing is certain: The indictment is pretty amazing. Below, we have bulleted the most important/best/most entertaining parts.
• Follieri claimed that the Vatican appointed him to manage its financial affairs and that he met with the Pope in person when he went to visit Rome, Italy. (In reality, he bribed an administrative assistant at the Vatican so that he could meet with low-level clergy.)
• He also transferred thousands of dollars he was supposed to spend buying churches to "the Italian office," a.k.a. private accounts in Monaco and Rome. (There was no Italian office.)
• Sometimes the transfers went "to a manufacturer of custom-made suits."
• Once he paid $30,000 to fly his physician to London for a "minor ailment."
• Also, once he paid thousands of dollars of investors' money to charter a plane to fly 90 minutes from L.A. to Vegas.
• Overall, he spent $800,000 on "engineering reports. When he evntually submitted them to investors, the reports were, they noted, each two to five pages long, written in Italian, and contained exactly no engineering information.
• "According to several witnesses, Follieri kept various ceremonial robes, including robes of senior clergymen, at his office in New York, New York. One witness told [the FBI agent who wrote the complaint] that he/she had been traveling with him to change out of the monsignor's robes and put on the robe of a more senior clergyman in order to create the false impression that Follieri had close ties to the Vatican."
• He bought an apartment on Central Park West to "house Vatican officials." (Did not know any Vatican officials.)
• He chartered a flight to the Dominican Republic for a vacation with Anne Hathaway and his father (oh yeah, and according to the Journal article from the fall, Mr. Follieri's father was some years ago convicted in Italy of misappropriating more than $300,000 from a failed resort company whose assets he had been charged with overseeing. AHEM.)
May the Lord be with ya, Follieri.
Businessman Follieri Faces Charges Tied to Real-Estate Investment [WSJ]
For the "best shave in town," Avery recommends Frank's Chop Shop, which also plays tunes by Jay-Z and Biggie. And when he feels like listening to a Radiohead album from start to finish while eating the "best oysters in town," possibly on a date, he heads to Smith & Mills. So in sum, he's quite the fashionable downtown scenester.
Keep it up, Avester! You're doing great. We know HTML code can be a tad tricky when you first start working with it, but do be careful with your photo alignments. They're slightly off in that Blue & Cream post.
Men's Vogue Daily [MensVogue.com]
Related: The Diary of ‘Vogue’ Intern Sean Avery
Wii Star Wars Trailer [/Film]
UPDATE: During a hearing Tuesday afternoon, a federal judge ordered that Raffaello Follieri be held on $21 million bail on charges of bilking investors out of between $2.5 million and $6 million...
Britney Spears has made a subtle change for the better—and, it follows, so too have her custody rights.
This morning's court session, attended by both Spears and Kevin...
Photo: Getty Images
The Hold Steady, "Constructive Summer"
True, it's a long shot that this tune, the lead track off the Hold Steady's upcoming album, Stay Positive, will even get a single spin on Z100, but as far as songs of the summer go, "Constructive Summer" has a lot to offer. It's catchy and loud. It's an ode to good times ("Get hammered!"), but it adds to that a spirit of nonspecific uplift ("We can all be something bigger"). Most important, to our mind at least, it's about, well, summer, and combines sunny guitars with sing-along moments in a way that's already made it our sing-along companion during a long, long drive to the beach. Such is its adherence to tried-and-true summer-song tropes of yesteryear that it sounds, in fact, like Craig Finn and the guys sat down one day and someone said, "Can we write a song of the summer?" and someone else was like, "Why not?" Maybe they should've called it "Deconstructive Summer."
Camp Rock premiered big and repeated well. Now it only has to keep it up for another, oh, two and a half years.
Like High School Musical.
Giving the Jonas Brothers'...
Between last year's Atonement to this week's Wanted, James McAvoy has gone from Oscar bait to action hero, from wooing Keira Knightley to wowing Angelina Jolie. So I had to ask him the...
Enjoy the fine threads while they last!Photo: WireImage
Jacob Arabov, also known as “Jacob the Jeweler,” purveyor of over-the-top diamond jewelry to clients varying from the world of sports and hip hop to the Upper East Side and Hollywood through his namesake firm Jacob & Co., has been sentenced to 30 months in prison.He will also pay a fine of $2 million in a sentence handed down today by U.S. district court judge Avern Cohn in Detroit.
Arabov, 42, was arrested on June 15, 2006, at his flagship on East 57th Street on charges of laundering more than $270 million in narcotics proceeds for a Detroit-based drug ring called the Black Mafia Family.
Jail for Jacob the Jeweler [WWD]
Imus and Pacman.Photo: Getty Images
Of course, Al Sharpton (who was a leader of the crusade to get Imus fired from CBS radio over his "nappy-headed hos" comment in April 2007) didn't buy this explanation and insisted the remarks were "disturbing."
What many (including commenters on this site) perceived in Imus's comments yesterday was not anything directly offensive, but the implication that Imus carries some basic and negative assumptions in his head about race. It's a relevant topic and worthy of debate, and one we'd like to see continue. But a word to our commenters: As you discuss whether Imus broadcasts some sort of prejudice to his listeners, we won't help you broadcast yours. Comments will be removed (as they were on yesterday's post on this topic) for racist or hateful content.
Imus Says He's Defending, Not Offending, 'Pacman' Jones [CNN]
Earlier: Did Don Imus Make Another Racial Gaffe?
Chock-full of cantankerous ogres, goblins, and Sylphs laying siege to the Grace clan — the family at the center of this beloved book series turned movie — The Spiderwick Chronicles is a kid’s flick with serious bite. Young Jared Grace, the designated savior, is terrific: “As the troubled Jared,” wrote David Edelstein, “Freddie Highmore does well at suggesting he's carrying the weight of the world on his little shoulders.” That’s something we imagine a little New Yorker can readily identify with.
Photo: Getty Images
1. Mystery Jets, “Young Love”
"British people have such a knack for talking about losing money and babes at bars, and making me feel good about it. I want this guy to find his girl and take her to his crappy flat so bad. When I hear this song, I just want to buy him a pint of Boddington’s – you know, for courage."
2. Man Man, “Hurly/Burly”
"This is a love song — for cavemen. I love cavemen, and I love love songs. And summertime makes me feel like natural man, which is pretty close."
3. Lil Wayne, "Upgrade"
"This track reminds me of making mix tapes in eighth grade. Also, he asks the question that always seems to pop into my head after I kiss my girl: Where is the Rocky theme? What a weirdo."
4. Animal Collective, “Seal Eyeing”
"I'm pissed my superego went and formed a band without me. This song sounds like a UFO touching down if it was somehow landing underwater, with shimmering piano lines rising through a layer of bubbles, accented with eerie harmonies."
5. Luke Temple, “Saturday People”
"Luke really writes soundtracks for dreams. This dream definitely has a Ferris Wheel in it, and probably a kid who's crying at the top because he's scared of heights. Luke's voice is high and fragile, but it's pure and it's funny. It makes me want to put down the half-smoked cigarette I found on the street and buy a peony for my girl instead."
6. Tom Waits, “Anywhere I Lay My Head”
"Tom Waits puts so much into this song that it's almost hard to listen to. The New Orleans band behind him is funny enough it makes you want to cry, and the outro sounds like the soundtrack for walking off into the sunset. Scarlett Johansson can sleep on my couch. I'm giving Tom the bed."
7. Otis Redding, “These Arms of Mine”
"I play this song so much — it’s my girl’s favorite song of all time, and whenever it comes on, it’s pretty much mandatory that we stop whatever we’re doing and slow-dance. Which is to say it's quickly becoming my favorite song of all time."
8. Weezer, “I’m The Greatest Man That Ever Lived”
"This is like Rivers Cuomo’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ If it’s a joke, it’s insane; if it’s serious, it’s insane, and either way it’s totally great. Plus, it makes me a little bit sad. But good sad."
9. MGMT, “Kids”
"The riff makes you feel intrepid. Plus, there are cheering kids!"
10. Beirut, “In the Mausoleum”
"This song is so weird and funky for Beirut. It's hypnotizing. And it makes me really excited to think about what's coming next from them. Also, I never knew Zach Condon was such a baller at the piano."
11. Miles Benjamin, “Buriedfed”
"This is a collaboration with Grizzly Bear and Kyp Malone, but it sounds like Isaac Brock and Stephen Malkmus are cheering him on at the next table. This song lulls you from the start with his casual voice and minimal backing, but it grows so that, by the end, you feel like the whole ramshackle town showed up to carry Miles on their shoulders to throw him in the river. Pure catharsis."
Hear all eleven songs at Muxtape!
The Harlem Shakes just wrapped up a short swing with Vampire Weekend and are currently recording their first full-length LP at Gigantic Studios; it's planned for a January release. —Brian Crocker
Earlier: RZA, Kim Gordon, and Albert Hammond Jr. Make You a Summer Playlist
Related: Master Playlists [NYM]
We loved pretty much every single thing about the “Shaq impromptu attack on Kobe Bryant during a freestyle session in an NYC club” story, but there are so many brilliant individual nuggets that we had to break it down in order to soak it all in. First, of course, is (1) the video itself. Shaq sets it off with a minor Kobe slight — “you know how I be / last week Kobe couldn’t do without me,” a reference to Bryant’s Lakers losing to a far-superior Boston Celtics squad in the NBA finals — before meandering into name-checking Diddy, Biggie, and his own sizable wealth. And about a minute in, the floodgates open: “Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes!” The crowd goes wild!
Shaq’s toothy grin stretches, and then he gets bitter — “I’m a horse / Kobe ratted me out, that’s why I’m getting divorced” — before the legitimately clever kicker: “I love ’em, I don’t leave ’em / I got a vasectomy, now I can’t breed ’em.” All of which is only a prelude to the most sublime moment (2) a group sing-along to the “chorus.” Everybody now: “Kobe, tell me how my ass tastes!”
Then there's (3) Shaq’s “explanation” to ESPN.com yesterday: “That is what MCs do," he said. "They freestyle when called upon. I'm totally cool with Kobe. No issue at all.” Mmm-hmm. We'll see if he has any issues as soon as he surfaces from your ass. Then Shaq goes on to (4) plug his MC CV: “And by the way, don't forget, six albums, two platinum, two gold. Anybody who knows me knows I'm a funny freestyler. Check the NBA DVD when I was rapping” — over the Cheers theme song, awesomely enough — “about Vlade Divac during my first championship run.” (Bonus fallout: (5) The ESPN headline stone-facedly declaring “O’Neal Plays Down Impact of His Rap Dissing Bryant.”)
And, finally (6), our own imagination, running wild as we lay in bed last night. We’d be deluding ourselves to ever imagine a Kobe counterattack: Despite his documented past, Bryant’s far too much of a basketball automaton now to have a shot at a charisma-off with the clownish O’Neal. But how about, in classic rap-battle conventions, sending his minions after the big man? Perhaps backup point guard Jordan Farmar, or the Slovenian sharpshooter Sasha Vujacic? “First off, fuck Steve Nash and the clique you claim / West Side when we ride come equipped with game!” We’ll be waiting. —Amos Barshad
Shaq raps on New York stage, takes shots at Kobe [ESPN]
She's just like us, minus the whole empire thing.Photo: Wireimage
Originally announced in April, VeraWangOnWeddings.com aims to be the one-stop shop for brides-to-be, offering registry ideas, a gown-finder (the best we’ve seen), planning tips, and more. “It is my way of being there with you to help make the decisions and choices that will affect your lives,” Vera wrote on Brides.com. And judging from her latest launches in addition to the site, it’s no secret that she’s trying to edge her brand into every inch of your life: Score a mattress from Serta’s Vera line, decorate it with her bedding collection for Kohl’s, stock your shelves with her stemware, and yes, start your marriage with one of her signature ethereal gowns.
So with her new branding mega-empire, it’s no surprise people started to compare Wang to that other ultimate woman in home décor, our favorite ex-con, Martha. Only the big difference is: This is Vera we’re talking about! She brings luxury to the market and can pull together fashion folks and casual consumers without alienating either group. And surely now that Wang’s dabbled in the online world, making her genius bridal brain even more accessible to the public, Martha must be sizing up the competition. Does this mean a Vera-themed morning talk show is in the works? We can only hope. —Sharon Clott
Vera Wang Blogs for Brides.com [Sassybella]
Warwick Orme’s Light My Fire and Joy Division (2004).Courtesy of the artist and Bond Street Gallery
Courtesy of DavidHasselhoff.com
DavidHasselhoff.com [via G4TV]
Reuters - East will meet West next summer for
Giorgio Armani male fans with Asian inspired long shirts,
shantung trousers and fitted jackets, the Italian designer
suggested in his menswear show, which won him loud applause.
It was just like this.Photo-illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: Getty Images
Normally the Clintons stay at the Hamptons digs of her former national finance director Alan Patricof, but perhaps that's a little too painful right now. He and her other top fund-raisers have been dutifully meeting with the Obama camp — and this was Hillary's vacation, you know? Why think about work! We're sure she adores Alan and all, but maybe that's not the face she wants to look at while she's idling in the Citarella line. —Leanne Shear
Jeremy with his work.Photo: Melissa Hom
How did you decide to become a photographer?
It really started as a social buffer. I just kept taking it out, shooting and shooting, and realized the photos were interesting. Then, in 2004, at Amanda Lepore's birthday, David LaChapelle was in town. We ended up back at Pamela Anderson's hotel room at the Four Seasons, and he looked at my photographs and said, "These are really good." So that was the moment where I was like, "Cool, I can do this!"
You shoot only with a Polaroid camera — have you thought of going digital?
There's something about the texture and quality of a Polaroid that I love way too much to try anything else.
Smile!Photo: Melissa Hom
You have books coming out?
Yeah, Hugo Boss is theoretically helping to sponsor one about the whole downtown scene that I really cut my teeth on. And then Sam Shadid and I are doing one on the objectification of boys.
You've shot tons of big celebrities, like Beyoncé and Angelina Jolie. Is it different working with them?
All of my works deals with celebrity, just in different contexts. Whether it's a go-go boy downtown, or a transsexual in Thailand, or Nicole Kidman, it's this contemporary idea of celebrity. You have people becoming MySpace stars now.
How do you negotiate working in both the art world and then going backstage at shows or shooting at fashion parties?
I think that some artists have become rock stars, like Murakami, Jeff Koons, Richard Prince. They're sitting front-row at fashion shows and going to Calvin Klein dinners. I think everybody likes to pretend that they look down on each other, but secretly they want to be a part of those worlds.
How would you describe your personal style?
Thrown-together and easy.
Who do you think has a great sense of style?
Club kids and drag queens. I think what they do is really incredible — defining your own style and performing around onstage or on the street. They blow me out of the water.
What's one thing you think every guy should have in his closet?
Ksubi jeans. I used to get yelled at for wearing baggier jeans, and then I bought these, which aren't even that skinny but are better.
What do you think of guys in super, super skinny jeans?
If you can't get them on without really struggling, give me a break.
Where do you shop?
Bblessing, Opening Ceremony. Moss is great, inspiration-wise. But I'd always rather buy art.
Favorite designers?
I don't know how he stays in business but I love what Zac Posen does. So theatrical.
What was the first designer item you ever bought?
A Gucci leather jacket. My friend used to work at Gucci corporate. So my splurge would always be when things went 60percent—off, and I would get another 50-percent discount.
What fall trends do you love?
Y-3 gave me these amazing gold sneakers. Terence [Koh] is obsessed with them — he has like, five pairs. So, I'm kind of loving metallic sneakers.
Is there anything you see on the street that you wish you never saw again?
Tevas and Birkenstocks. Just go spend $20 on a pair of Marc Jacobs flip-flops. —Kendall Herbst
"I'll get you a new waxing kit, mom, I swear!"Photo courtesy of Showtime
“Did you know Mrs. Hodes is in jail?” Shane asks Mom over the phone as she waits at the Mexican border wearing a tie-dyed minidress and stilettos. “She got busted for a pot house. Your pot house, Mom.” “Hey honey, I’m kind of busy right now,” says Nancy, who, indeed, must go and explain the drug run she has undertaken to a border cop tapping on her window. “Are we safe?” asks Shane, his role as purveyor of truth–slash–voice of doom amping up this season. “Of course we’re safe,” says Nancy, promptly hanging up.
Mrs. Hodes — Celia — is having a pretty awful time of it, and her ex-husband, ex-lover, and lesbian daughter are relishing it. “Dean’s downstairs hitting on some frumpy chick who dug him in law school,” Doug tells her through the glass, “and he wanted you to know he’s sorry there’s no money for bail.” It’s all very hilarious … until it’s just cruel. Celia’s cellmate, Cheetah, has made Celia “her special girl,” giving her a tacky makeover, and Celia whispers that her “life is in danger” as she tears up through the makeup encrusted around her eyes. Celia may be the wicked witch of Agrestic, but how far can our irreverent crew take this before we start loving them less?
Well, we do still love them. They are still excessively pretty, excessively snarky, and their ungodly existence is still endlessly delicious (“We can hear the ocean,” says Nancy. “How great is that?” Shane: “That’s Silas watering his pot plants.”) But how much shit is coming down the pipeline? With Nancy peddling drugs across the border, Silas gardening, and Shane mopping up his dying grandmother’s … shit … it’s starting to look — in the words of Celia’s flaky, frumpy lawyer — as though everyone is “fucked like a stray dog in Chinatown.” —Emma Pearse
Photo: NYDN
Now that we live here in New York, we have a whole new set of nightmare scenarios. And yesterday, we just learned from the Daily News, one woman lived through one of the worst ones. Francine Alfontent, 27, was in labor on the subway, trying to make it to the Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan. She didn't. Instead, she gave birth on the subway platform. And it doesn't end there. It was the subway platform of the F train. The East Broadway stop.
The Daily News would have you believe that the insane part of this story came when other straphangers leapt to her aide:
A nurse on her way to work also got off the train and began comforting Francine. A businessman put his briefcase under her head as a pillow. One man ran up to the street to guide paramedics and firemen to Francine. Several others gave up articles of clothing for her to rest on. "At last four trains came into the station and it seemed like people from every one of them stopped to help," said social worker Wendy Brown, 44 from the Bronx who held Francine's hand and reminded her how to breathe. "It was amazing. You can't tell me New Yorkers don't care," said Brown.
That's sweet, yes, and surprising. And because of the help, both mother and daughter are doing fine. But — the most insane part of this story is clearly the above photograph of Francine and her baby girl, Soleil, just after Soleil emerged from the womb. Like, immediately after. We're not even sure if the cords you can see are of the medical or umbilical variety. But in any case, wow.
Straphangers pitch in as Brooklyn woman gives birth on F train platform [NYDN via Gothamist]
Photo: Getty Images
Top row: Yellow Fever, Purple Haze, Concrete Jungle by Rescue Beauty Lounge; Hey! Get in Lime! By O.P.I. Bottom Row: Solar Power by China Glaze, Parrot Green by Color Club, Shooting Star and Eggshell Robin by Dashing Diva.Photo: Courtesy Rescue Beauty Lounge; OPI.com; China Glaze/Color Club from Head2ToeBeauty.com; Dashing Diva
Jeniette New York Day Spa
58 E. 13th St., nr. Broadway (212-529-1616); Mon.–Fri. (10–8), Sat. (10–7), Sun. (noon–7)
Price for manicure: $11; Buy the bottle: $7.50
Ask for: O.P.I.’s “Hey! Get in Lime!” shade from the Brights Collection satisfies your need for green.
Rescue Beauty Lounge
34 Gansevoort St., nr. Hudson St. (212-206-6409); Tues.–Fri. (11–8), Sat–Sun (10–6), Mon (closed)
Price for manicure: $30; Buy the bottle: $18
Ask for: You can count on Ji Baek of Rescue Beauty Lounge to create wacky colors you’ll love, like Yellow Fever, a lemon-y shade. Or, for a twist on pastels, try Purple Haze, a pastel violet hue, and Concrete Jungle, a soft gray.
Just Calm Down
32 W. 22nd St., nr. Fifth Ave. (212-337-0032); Mon.–Wed. (11–8), Thurs.–Fri. (noon–9), Sat. (10:30–6), Sun. (11–6)
Price for manicure: Starting at $25
Ask for: Tara Oolie’s salon features cool themed manicures like Wisteria Lane and the Grape Gatsby, but for the basic mani, try Parrot Green, their bright-emerald gemstone color by Color Club.
Dashing Diva
Click above to see its seven city locations.
Price for manicure: $15; Buy the bottle: $8
Ask for: Even though you’ll be surrounded by Dashing Diva’s overwhelming bubble gum—pink decorations, don’t overlook their great selection of pale blues. Try Shooting Star, a soft pastel shade, or Eggshell Robin, a deeper aquamarine hue. Mix with white tips for a modern French manicure. —Jada Yuan and Sharon Clott
Related: Olivia Thirlby Spurns Pot, Embraces the Munchies [NYM]
Photo: WireImage
"This is a modern, in-your-face movie. This is not a TV movie period piece." —Quentin Tarantino on making the Poochie of World War II movies [BBC]
"This isn't Shakespeare, so we don't take ourselves too seriously." —Paul Walker on the fourth (!) installment of The Fast and the Furious, which we like to call 4 Fast 4 Furiousest [USAT]
"Well, it's like I say to Chris [Nolan], 'I'll probably be doing this in dinner theater somewhere in my fifties.' I won't knock it because who knows where I'll end up." —Christian Bale on the possibility of playing Batman in a future Justice League movie [IGN]
"I know George didn't believe in heaven or hell. Like death, they were just more comedy premises. And it just makes me even sadder to think that when I reach my own end, whatever tumbling cataclysmic vortex of existence I'm spinning through, in that moment I will still have to think, 'Carlin already did it.'" —Jerry Seinfeld [NYT]
Tom WolfePhoto: Getty Images
MEDIA
• Arianna Huffington says her beef with deceased Meet the Press host Tim Russert was nothing personal; she'd only met him once. In fact, she doesn't know most of the people she insults: "I have a whole section in my book describing Bob Woodward as the dumb blonde of American journalism. You could say there was something personal but I've barely met him." [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
• CNN and Fox have cracked down on their journalists who took an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas courtesy of JetBlue and Thrillist. The New York Post and Daily News, however, don't seem to mind the junketeering. [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
REAL ESTATE
• Winona Ryder sold her Gramercy Park condo. [NYO]
• Politicians and yuppies alike are not thrilled about Brooklyn's plan to expand and revamp the House of Detention on Atlantic Avenue, which hasn't housed inmates since 2003. [Brownstoner]
• SoHo Mews, a development on Wooster Street with prices ranging from $2.4 to $11 million, is taking a road show to court buyers abroad. [Curbed]
LAW
• Jared Specthrie, Robert Sugarman, and Lawrence Milberg, are the three "conspiring partners" unnamed but often alluded to in the criminal investigation against Milberg Wiess. [Portfolio]
• A Manhattan attorney uses a psychic to help select juries and anticipate the opposing team's arguments. [Newsweek]
• Here's a piece of advice from the new book The Unhappy Lawyer: Ditch your friends who are attorneys. [WSJ]
Courtesy of Pixar
Harry Knowles, naturally, goes a little crazy on this one, but his breathless review ("one of the absolute best hard science fiction films made in my adult life"), combined with excerpts from other early viewers' responses, are impressive even by Harry's standards. You sort of have to pay attention to it, in the way you'd still pay attention to the Boy Who Cried Wolf if he screamed right in your ear.
And even with the movie's somewhat audience-unfriendly concept, there's speculation that Wall-E might reverse Pixar's recent box-office decline. Jim Hill Media reports that internal Disney tracking has the movie doing about 30 percent better domestically than Ratatouille did, which — while still lower than Finding Nemo — would be pretty damn good for a mostly silent movie about a waste-disposal robot alone on the ruins of Planet Earth.
A look from the Emporio Armani spring 2009 collection, and Giorgio Armani.Photo: imaxtree, WireImage
"It is time to straighten ourselves out, we are too slovenly," he said. He blamed the lack of decent dressing on a culture of "atrocious permissiveness".He said: "Everything seems to be allowed, even eating and drinking in a church square while stripped to the waist."
We can identify with Giorgio here — the shirtless creatures that emerged during our recent heat wave were offensive enough on secular sidewalks (even if your body is rock-hard, you don't need to air it out before strangers in a public park or on a subway platform).
Armani also told the paper he "inject[ed] a severity" into his men's show to "communicate respect, which is a rare commodity these days." So that explains the jackets unzipped from the bottom to the nipple.
Giorgio Armani: Italy is too scruffy [Telegraph]
Emporio Armani Menswear Slideshow: Spring 2009
Ayveq, kissing us good-bye.Photo: Salim's flickr
• "Ayveq loved the attention and, if for some reason, visitors failed to notice him, he would flip his flippers at the glass to attract attention, 'look them straight in the eye and give them a great big walrus grin.'" [WNBC]
• "Aquarium staff held a subdued service yesterday to remember the charismatic creature who loved to whistle and give them whiskery kisses." [NYDN]
• "Ayveq, the walrus whose bizarre, though oddly compelling, masturbation rituals made him an international sensation at the New York Aquarium, has died. He was 14. Though well-liked long before he discovered the habit that would make him a star, Ayveq’s frequent public self-gratification made him the Coney Island institution’s singular attraction." [Brooklyn Paper]
Thanks, Brooklyn Paper, for telling it like it was. Ayveq, you will be missed.
Photo: Getty Images
• Marc Ambinder says that in “our post-9/11 etiquette, campaign advisers are never supposed to answer questions like” the one Black was asked. And it’s not certain Black was right: Would voters “flock to the security blanket provided by a guy with decades of national-security experience,” or would “they blame McCain by proxy”? [Atlantic]
• Jim Geraghty, tongue planted firmly in cheek, contends that “there's no reason to think that after a terrorist attack, Americans would prefer the leadership of a war veteran who's spent his entire career dealing with national-security issues,” instead of turning “to the former community organizer.” [Campaign Spot/National Review]
• Greg Sargent speculates it might have benefited Obama if he had called on McCain to fire Black, as it could have “kept the story going and forced the McCain team to prove it's serious about not indulging in the Rovian fearmongering that McCain claims to be above.” [TPM Election Central]
• Rick Klein and friends write that it's "tempting (and maybe accurate) to cast this as a rerun of the GOP's 2004 strategy" of questioning John Kerry's ability to protect the country from terrorism, but "was this really the story line that McCain wanted" on the day he "was beginning to get some traction on his energy proposals"? [Note/ABC News]
• Michael Crowley notes that it “wasn't so long ago that Democrats hesitated even to accuse Republicans of using security-related scare tactics, lest they seem whiny and weak.” As for the truth behind Black’s statement, “a lot depends on the particulars” of any hypothetical attack. [Stump/New Republic]
• Michael Scherer says it’s just “sad” that we’re “having this conversation,” and expects “lots of ugly charges and counter-charges” from cable news “gasbags.” [Swampland/Time]
• Jennifer Rubin calls Black’s remark “tasteless” — “albeit accurate.” [Contentions/Commentary]
• Jake Tapper reminds us that in August Hillary Clinton also said, though with more careful phrasing, that an attack would give the Republican candidate an advantage, and was “pilloried” for it. [Political Punch/ABC News]
• Chuck Todd and friends write that “for what it's worth, there's been chatter among some Democrats that the big fear Obama aides have is just what Black spoke about — some sort of national security crisis popping up in October.” This is why many are convinced that Obama will pick a VP with good national-security credentials. [First Read/MSNBC]
• Brian Montopoli speculates that the McCain campaign’s freewheeling media accessibility could change with this latest gaffe. At the very least, though, “a case can certainly be made that, purely from a logical perspective, Black’s argument was defensible — if not exactly prudent.” [Horserace/CBS News] —Dan Amira
For a complete and regularly updated guide to presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain — from First Love to Most Embarrassing Gaffe — read the 2008 Electopedia.
Tom Ford. Photo: Getty Images
• Pierre Bergé revealed he chose not to tell Yves Saint Laurent that Saint Laurent was suffering from a brain tumor. [WWD]
• Michelle Obama just might have been shot for the cover of Essence magazine when she was in New York last week. [WWD]
• Gossip Girl's Taylor Momsen has been signed to IMG Models. The girl is just 14! [Fashionista]
• Janet Jackson is designing a lingerie line that will debut by the end of this year. Oh goody. [WWD]
• You can get the green dress Nicole Kidman wears on the cover of Vogue in Bergdorf Goodman for just $9,850! [WWD]
• Sex and the City stylist Patricia Field thinks Cindy McCain's thinness makes her look older than she really is. [HP]
• Carla Bruni wore more Dior on an official visit to Israel to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the country's independence. [WWD]
• Maria Sharapova designed an accessories line for Sony Ericsson. We don't know where that came from either. [My Fashion Life]
• At last you can listen to Heidi Montag's new single, "Fashion." Do so at your own risk. [Us Weekly]
• Michael Kors: "I made some regrettable clothes, like the bodysuit for men — I have one. Snaps on the crotch for men? I don't think so." [WWD]
• Naomi Campbell couldn't walk the Rosa Cha show at Brazilian Fashion Week, so she was reportedly replaced by a male model who walked out in a Speedo and then disrobed under a shower. [NYP]
• The Ananas pop-up shop on the Lower East Side gives customers a free "I pineapple NY" tote bag with every purchase. [Pipeline]
Fashion Wire Daily - With the Milan men's collection's practically bereft of any clothes one might remotely consider wearing to work, and most designers creating sabbatical chic, it was refreshing to witness the latest collection from Alessandro Dell'Acqua whose aesthetic message appeared to be, why not take the time off work to write poetry.
Fashion Wire Daily - Gucci took off on a rock and roll tour Monday in Milan with a men's collection where the models looked like Flower Power guitarists or arty bassists checking into a faintly louche hotel after their latest gig.
AP - "Side Effects: A Bestselling Drug on Trial" (Algonquin Books. 240 pages. $24.95), by Alison Bass: It's hard not to cheer for the little guy in "Side Effects," the true story of underdogs who stand up to powerful drug companies and their questionable ethics.
