AP - PARIS (AP) Angelina Jolie has left the building. Oh, and so have the twins. Before dawn Saturday, the Hollywood superstar and her newborn twins left the French Riviera hospital where she gave birth a week ago, the hospital said in a statement.
AP - PARIS (AP) Angelina Jolie has left the building. Oh, and so have the twins. Before dawn Saturday, the Hollywood superstar and her newborn twins left the French Riviera hospital where she gave birth a week ago, the hospital said in a statement.
AP - Nothing dark about Batman's first night at the box office.
 Vancouver Sun | Change of 'Scene' as CBS preps for William Peterson's exit New York Daily News - BY CRISTINA KINON LOS ANGELES - The news that William Petersen would leave "CSI" broke this week, but CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler said Friday the network had been preparing for the star's exit for a while. "CSI" to get new scientist -- or serial killer? CBS to replace 'CSI' lead, keep Couric in news slot |
 Washington Post | Couric's packing, but only for Obama trip New York Daily News - BY DAVID HINCKLEY LOS ANGELES - "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric said Friday she's guardedly optimistic that the spotlight is shifting away from her job security to the news she's reporting. Couric plans to stay as CBS Evening News anchor Couric to Stay at Cbs, for Now |
 BBC News | Heath Ledger's long journey from Perth New York Daily News - ...ensuring the late actor, pictured in his American debut, '10 Things I Hate About You,' will be remembered for being more than just another pretty face. Actor Heath Ledger's death shines light on drug abuse DC Comic's Paul Levitz Talks 'Dark Knight' |
AP - Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:
 Washington Post | Paul McCartney Joins Billy Joel at Shea Stadium New York Times - By BEN SISARIO Billy Joel, left, performing in what was advertised as the last concert at Shea Stadium, was joined by Paul McCartney. Joel closes on high note Sing us one last song at Shea, Piano Man |
Is 'Scrubs' calling it quits? Maybe Deseret News - By Scott D. Pierce BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - "Scrubs" is moving from NBC to ABC this fall for its final season. Maybe. Oh, the comedy is definitely moving to ABC. Scrubs: "The Janitor's Name Is Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate" Zach Braff to hang up his `Scrubs' |
Reuters - The new Batman movie, "The Dark
Knight," swooped into theaters to gross a record $18.5 million
from midnight preview screenings ahead of its official opening
on Friday, according to distributor Warner Bros.
Reuters - The fourth single from Carrie
Underwood's double-platinum "Carnival Ride" finds the singer
charting new territory.
 Times Online | Auction Is Held of James Brown Items New York Times - An auction of personal possessions and outfits, below, of the self-proclaimed Godfather of Soul, James Brown, fell slightly short of expectations, The Associated Press reported. James Brown's Estate Cashes in on His Stuff James Brown's children sorry to see memorabilia auctioned |
 ABC News | Emmy noms reax: TV critics aren't too critical! Some are, egad, happy! Los Angeles Times - While the TV critics bemoaned the lack of recognition for the final season of "The Wire," they were generally pleased with the overall Emmy Awards nominations. Video: TV Week: Critics Mad for 'Mad Men Emmys fond of dear 'John' |
Maybe all Verne Troyer ever wanted was a little more say in the matter.
The diminutive actor has settled the $20 million lawsuit that he filed last month against TMZ.com, an adult film...
Randy Jackson is getting the crew together this fall.
The dawggone musician has announced plans for the inaugural America's Best Dance Crew Live, a 20-date tour to showcase the best...
Photo: Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Representative Charlie Rangel declined to renew the lease on the rent-stabilized Harlem apartment he’d been using as an office. Two unexplained charges at the infamous Mayflower Hotel showed up in filings from the defunct Spitzer 2010 campaign. Former State Senate majority leader Joseph Bruno cleaned out his Albany office in a hurry, perhaps to cash in on a $95,000 annual pension. Five child-welfare workers were charged with skimming $1.5 million to cars, including an $84,000 BMW. A judge questioned Patricia Duff’s choice to represent herself in a custody battle against billionaire Ron Perelman.
A graphic designer in midtown bit into his fresh-baked Subway sandwich only to find a serrated knife with a seven-inch blade had been baked inside. Rocco, the beagle who wandered from Queens to Georgia and back, weighed offers to tell his story. SNL’s Amy Poehler signed on to star in a sitcom from the producers of The Office. A Rod’s lawyer insisted that reports of domestic surveillance among the Rodriguez clan were in error. Boss George Steinbrenner emerged from seclusion to make an appearance at the marathon All-Star Game. And first-night showings of The Dark Knight sold out all over town, on word of mouth about Heath Ledger’s unhinged final performance as the Joker. —Mark Adams
Nobody pokes fun at a panda in this town and gets away with it.
A Chinese artist known for invoking his country's bamboo-gnawing national symbol in nearly everything that he does has...
E! Online - Maybe all Verne Troyer ever wanted was a little more say in the matter.
Ed McMahon has come up with a way to ease his financial pain.
The 85-year-old TV icon has sued a number of people connected in one way or another to the 2007 fall that resulted in his...
Let's all just embrace chest hair now.Photo: Courtesy of American Apparel
Dr. Valerie Steele, director of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, believes that this new prim mood is a reaction to an overdose of trashy looks. "We've had years of thong underpants flashing above everything, and too much cleavage. I think it's just a very natural pendulum swing," she says.
And of course, this wouldn't be a fashion-trend story if the recession didn't have something to do with it! Steele says designers are trying to make their pieces look more couture during hard economic times. Customers want their expensive clothes to actually look expensive, rather than, you know, cheap.
Ironically — yet unsurprisingly — while women's necklines have risen, men's necklines have plunged! Yes, those deep Vs American Apparel made so popular aren't going anywhere. We've said it once but we'll say it again: Men are the new women. Have fun, boys.
Prim and proper [The Guardian]
Anderson Pooper 360 [OMGblog]
Related: Introducing Anderson Pooper
Ali in Anna Sui, left, and Lanvin.Photo: Courtesy of Anna Sui, Lanvin
Related: Model Ali Michael on ‘Today:’ ‘I Hadn't Had My Period in Over a Year’
‘Teen Vogue’s Ali Michael Story Sends Mixed Messages
Bushwick: Poor Janet Corona. The Prudential Douglas Elliman broker e-mailed BushwickBK that they were in a "hep of poop" for posting her "exclusive" condo listing, and then the blog went and published her crazy all-caps e-mail, and now everyone's piling on, making fun of Janet and her self-tanned, MySpace-y picture. Get in on the action! [BushwickBK]
Chinatown: This hood and the Lower East Side, both lacking enough parks, will get more "social public spaces" transformed from "underused streets." That's cool, but you gotta put some trees and shade up in that joint. Peeps don't wanna be sitting on the hot, bare street! [Villager]
Clinton Hill: Speaking of underused public space, are swaths of CH so desolate and weed-rich that they qualify as "urban prairies"? And that calico-clad chick with the blind baby sister we just spotted on Lafayette: Wasn't that Laura Ingalls Wilder? [Clinton Hill Blog]
Downtown Brooklyn: After all that hoopla, MTV's Real World gang won't be coming to the BellTel Lofts after all. Seems like they couldn't get the permits they needed to build out the space as they wanted. Guess where it's looking like those crazy kids will land (as of today, that is)? Yep, that's right, Le Hook Rouge. [Brooklyn Paper]
Rockaway Beach: A man who was rescued here after his boat capsized jumped back in the water to retrieve his personal items and had to be rescued again! Mister, it was time to get a new iPhone anyway! [ABCLocal]
Upper East Side: Hey, hot doorman with an accent working at 77th and Park, remember that 26-year-old woman who walked by Sunday with her large white male friend who asked you if you knew any good restaurants? Well, she wants you. [Craigslist via Curbed]
Dan: jeez, i seriously have nothing to write about
Lane: yeah, it got real slow all of a sudden
Lane: ooh...
Lane: www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,385542,00.html
Lane: ...maybe?
Lane: eh
Dan: that didnt take long
Lane: yeah, i am over it
Lane: let's just do right-click and roll credits
Dan: i'm on roll credits
Lane: what is our theme this week?
Dan: "We Don't Have a Theme Because You Already Left Work to Stand In Line For The Dark Knight"
Did anything else of consequence happen this week besides the opening of the darkest superhero movie ever, the movie that might win Heath Ledger his Oscar, the movie that buries Aaron Eckhart, the movie that makes IMAX worth it, the movie that will introduce the Watchmen to the nation? Not really! Well, there is the Dominic Cooper-starring Mamma Mia!, which if you go to see it might forestall the death of America (if not the explosion of Paul Dergarabedian). There was the premiere of Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible. And there were the Emmys, which managed not to nominate The Wire while nominating "I'm Fucking Matt Damon."
What else was good this week? Space Chimps, apparently. Ryan Adams's upcoming literary career. The Girl Talk mash-ups. Kanye's photo ops. Inglorious Bastards casting. Spider-Man cattle calls. W bar fights. The upcoming death of Izzie. And — fingers crossed! — the retirement of Eddie Murphy. Have fun in line, America!
You didn't take him for a punner, did you?Photo: Getty Images
MAKEUP
• Jennifer Aniston spends $20,000 a month on her beauty routine, by this blogger's calculations. [Styledash]
• Kate Moss is venturing into makeup! She told Vogue she's working on a second perfume and makeup for Coty, Inc. Because smelling like her isn't enough. [Fashionista]
• Sephora will launch on10 this holiday season, a line with Disney characters like Mickey, Minnie, Snow White, Cinderella, and Alice on lip balms. Flavors include Tootsie Roll, 7Up, and Wrigley's. [WWD]
• Speaking of Sephora, Happy Birthday! Our makeup wonderland/best friend turns 10 today. [Racked]
SKIN
• A list of the ten most disturbing spa treatments includes snake massages, fanny facials, and six other ones we're not lining up for. But the chocolate-fondue wrap (No. 6) doesn't sound half-bad. [Divine Caroline via Consumerist]
Photo: WireImage
2. Britney Spears, "Sometimes it Feels Like the World's on My Shoulders" (demo)
On this newly leaked a capella demo, Britney gives an earnest and unguarded look at her problems and claims, "My insecurities could eat me alive." Wait till she reads what people are saying about this track on blogs! [Britney Groupie]
3. Jakob Dylan, "Something Good this Way Comes"
You've probably seen the latest record from Bob's progeny while standing in line at Starbucks. Is it as toothlessly bland as you'd expect? Yes, sadly. [Culture Bully]
4. Matthew Sweet, "Feel Fear"
Sweet made an impressive career out of swiping chord progressions from the Beatles — but now he's stealing from "Free as a Bird." [A Plague of Angels]
5. Fight Like Apes, "Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues (Mclusky Cover)"
Tearing pell-mell down the same lunatic freeway as X-Ray Spex and Be Your Own Pet, Fight Like Apes owns this Mclusky cover, the B-side to their awesome new single, Something Global. [Egoeccentric] —Ehren Gresehover
Carr, in his husky stage.Photo: Nytimes.com
We probably could have Googled, but instead we e-mailed David Carr to ask. And he had a theory! Sort of.
Here is what he told us:
My girlfriend at the time, Doolie, said Tom Arnold and I were the only people she knew who got fat on coke, but there are probably a few others out there. (And I didn't get sorta fat. I got huge. I could barely walk. I had to borrow pants from another fat guy if I had to get out of sweats and go out into the outside world. True story. And looking at those pix, I was not, um, a good looking fat guy.)Here's my bs theory. Drunks and junkies are people who like sticking things in their mouths. Bottles, pipes, pills, other people's body parts. But when consuming mood altering substances and other activities depart the scene, the reflexive activity continues. in my case, I developed an intimate relationship with all the major food groups while in treatment and discovered that while fake mash potatoes are not an intrinsically interesting food, they are a more the sufficient conveyance for getting great gobs of butter down yer piehole.
Now we know. Cocaine and Hungry Jack — a destructive combination.
Related: Go Ask David Carr
[caption]Photo: Patrick McMullan
Before we watched the opening-night Broadway performance of [title of show], we had a bunch of snappy questions ready about the musical's inherent narcissism, but after witnessing the cast taking tearful bows to a packed and equally tearful audience last night, we only wanted to talk about feelings. "It's like a bucking bronco!" screamed musical director Larry Pressgrove, while cast member Heidi Blickenstaff gushed over "my dad, who is this big stoic German guy, seeing me in a Broadway show for the first time tonight. You're really realizing a dream coming true in real time, and I had a really hard time holding my shit together."
She wasn't the only one. Cats's Betty Buckley wondered why she was referred to in the show as "A hot box of crazy," but nevertheless told us she cried twice ("And oh, I wept!"), and Broadway vet Penny Fuller swore that she's sobbed every time she's seen [title of show] since workshops. "And I'm beyond that, I've done my crying over plays, but this gets me every time!" It sounds like a major cheese-fest, and it was: the most delicious, top-shelf, oozing cheese-fest, though star Susan Blackwell swore that they try to regulate it. "We have a sort of cheeseometer going all the time," she said. —Amy Preiser
Related: The Meta-Meta-Meta-Musical [NYM]
Photo: Getty Images
Also! We're looking for older couples who got married in New York City, are still together, and still living in the city. By "older," we mean in your fifties and up (the older, the better). The magazine would like to interview and photograph these die-hards because, seriously, bravo.
If you fit the bill, please do email weddings@nymag.com ASAP; deadline is August 7th. We can't wait to be swept off our feet by you all!
Who (besides movie critics) says Lindsay Lohan doesn't have a leg to stand on these days?!
It's already waiting-list-only for slim-stemmed fashionistas looking to get their hands...Tagline: "Our world is a lot simpler to put to an end than you might think."
Translation: What? Sorry, we got distracted by something else.
The Verdict: Whoa, there's Osterman getting nuked into Doctor Manhattan! Holy crap, look at Archie! We've always liked this Smashing Pumpkins song, too. God, this looks exactly like the comic. Oh wow, this is the part where they break Rorschach out of Sing Sing. Did you hear Zack Snyder is keeping the original ending? Man, this is going to be sweet.
Earlier: ‘Watchmen’ Trailer: Who Are These Guys, and Why Do They Look So Cool?
We assume this product isn't part of the lawsuit.Photo: Courtesy of L'Oreal
First, let's get all Law & Order on the lawsuit: Shockingly, the suit comes from one of their own! The whistle-blower, Jerome Chevallier, is the former regulatory affairs director for the company (emphasis on former). Chevallier claims he was fired after complaining about his suspicions to higher-ups. And no wonder — his assertions are huge, to say the least. L'Oréal denied the allegations to ABC News, saying, "It is our policy that we do not comment on ongoing litigation, but the company intends to vigorously defend itself in this lawsuit."
Here are the detailed allegations:
• Maybelline products that went to South America contained dibutyl phthalate, a potential carcinogen.
• L'Oréal sold products in Europe that contained a refrigerant.
• The company sold a deodorant containing Tricolsan (also banned for being an anti-microbial agent), even though they released statements saying they would no longer use the chemical.
• Products in Europe contained unlawful levels of Kathon CG, a preservative linked to dermatitis, and information about this was removed from the company computer system.
• The company marketed PureOlogy products as "100 percent vegan," when they contained animal-derived ingredients.
• The chemicals used in these claims are not banned in the U.S.
Um, wow. Calls to L'Oréal for a response weren't returned.
On top of all this, news broke yesterday that L'Oréal cut their sales-growth outlook to 6 percent, from 6 to 8 percent, thanks to the slow economy. If bad news comes in threes, we wonder what else could possibly go wrong. We're not even sure we want to know.
—Sharon Clott
Lawsuit: L'Oreal Used Banned Chemicals in Foreign Sales [ABC News]
L'Oreal Trims Sales Outlook [WWD]
Lots of reception displays, but not a lot of reception.Images courtesy of Nytimes.com
Slideshow: Trick Out Your iPhone [NYT]
The Jonas Brothers want their MTV. And MTV wants them.
The trio will be debuting a new song from their new album during the MTV Video Music Awards, sources confirm.
This...
Darryl McDaniels—the rap progenitor who put the DMC in Run-DMC—has been admitted to a New Jersey hospital, where he is expected to undergo surgery to remove two major blood clots later...
Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush owe Matt Leinart big-time. The fellow footballer is actually the one who introduced the lovebirds to each other at the ESPY Awards.
So the least this...
Tom Ford.Photo: WireImage
“What I learned from Fantastic Man–and from saying that–is that I will never say anything about it again. I would love to be a father; I’ve often commented about it. I don’t know whether I will. As we say in the fashion industry, I don’t have anything in the works at the moment. When I do have a child, I will simply announce it, and then that will be that. No one will see the child and the child won’t be photographed. It’s a private thing.”
Okay, Tom. We wish you luck with that because, though it's an admirable idea, we have no idea how you'll manage to do it in today's day and age (ahem, Brangie). Especially since no one wants to see Michael Jackson and the Blanket, Part II, The Sequel.
We’ll Never See Tom Ford’s Child?! [FWD]
Related: Tom Ford Wants a Kid, Doesn't Miss Gucci
Pawel Althamer's Weronika (2001).Courtesy of Lithops Collection
Pawel Althamer's sculpture of a little girl is made of animal skin, stitched together with hemp, and sprouting some pretty tough straw-like hair. She is truly a beast: innocent and yet deeply creepy. In her hand she holds a fishing rod on which a single feather dangles, swirling beneath the air conditioner of The New Museum of Contemporary Art, where she is on view through September 21. In the museum's tonic new show, "After Nature," she joins Maurizio Cattelan's headless horse protruding from a wall, and a recreation of the Montana cabin where Ted Kaczynski shacked up making mail bombs, all inspired by Werner Herzog. It may have you running for the nearest mega-mall. -Emma Pearse
Photo: Getty Images
"Our family has always been into sports," Don Jr., who is Executive Vice-President of Development and Acquisitions for the Trump organization, explains to us. "Granted, my dad wasn’t exactly the kind of dad who would take us outside and play catch.…I grew up watching boxing matches, mostly at the [Trump] properties in Atlantic City, and once mixed martial arts developed, I got really into that." True to Trump form, the bottom line is never far from mind; he adds, "Plus, it’s a phenomenal growth sport."
We’ll see this Saturday night, when Affliction airs its first pay-per-view fight card. "To the non-fighter, extreme fighting can appear to be excessively violent," says Don Jr., who assures us the fighters are always in control. So in control that the Little Donald himself would consider jumping in the ring? "At best, I’d give myself fractions of a second with a real mixed-martial-arts fighter," he laughed. "If I could do even that it would probably beat the oddsmakers’ expectations." —Leanne Shear
Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
Hidden away in today's Times arts coverage, deep in the section behind Manohla Dargis's review of The Dark Knight ("Goes darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic-book kind") and A.O. Scott's review of Mamma Mia! ("You can have a perfectly nice time watching this ... and, once the hangover wears off, acknowledge just how bad it is"), is the best lede we've read in the Times in a long time:
Journalism is all about having the courage to write the truth even if it will get you mocked by your relatives and co-workers, so here goes: “Space Chimps” is hilarious.
We still don't want to see Space Chimps, but we do want to see Neil Genzlinger write more movie reviews!
Plucky Apes Help to Save the Planet of the Humans [NYT]
Living proof that, in America, even a mummy may
attain his greatest dreams.Photo: Getty Images
We have no idea how this works — from the article, it sounds like it would require ten hours of Sheppard’s time and someone to phonetically spell “Jorge” as “Hor-hay” — but it would allow names and numbers to be called by a computer in Sheppard’s voice. And though the writer, Darren Rovell, makes no mention of the Yankees actually expressing any interest in this technology (perhaps because it’s borderline creepy), we’ll take creepy and nostalgic over generic and boring any day. Rovell says the technology would cost six figures, but when you’re building a stadium for $1.3 billion, what’s another couple hundred grand? A modest proposal: Ditch the Hard Rock Café, and save the Voice of God. —Joe DeLessio
Will New York Yankees Use Announcer Bob Sheppard Forever? [CNBC]
Hugo Boss is prized as the slickest and sleekest show during Berlin fashion week--the reason Germany's most high-profile brand was the first on this season's schedule. The girls and boys in monochromatic suits glided past Kim Cattrall, Veruschka, Mischa Barton, and Germany's top-tier local lights, looking supremely poised and polished. So when Tanya Dziahileva sheepishly slipped off her heels toward the end, it might have been the most onlooker-stumping moment of the week. "But she was so professional," remarked Barton afterward. "The heels were obviously hurting all the girls, but she dealt with it really well." Barton was clearly impressed by Tanya, who elegantly walked on barefoot tiptoes, holding her heels and not cracking a smile until the last leg of the catwalk length. The American starlet was less taken with the after-show spread. "The line is way too long for coleslaw," she pouted. "Not professional."
Anthony Weiner.Photo: Getty Images
Weiner's raised $1.4 million over the past six months, more dough by far than any of the other Democratic candidates. One of his supporters told the Post, "The $7,000 he took from the modeling industry doesn't even represent one percent of his contributions." True, but it sure is fun to fuss over this kind of stuff anyway.
MODELING $$ BOOST FOR WEINER [NYP]
Related: Foreign Models Welcome, If You’re Old Enough
"What? I'm not tense."Photo: Getty Images
"It is quite a comedown for Mr. Thain, 53, who won praise for revitalizing the embattled New York Stock Exchange before taking the top job at Merrill," notes Louise Story in a sympathetic story in the Times.
The Wall Street Journal's "Breaking Views" column is not so forgiving, saying of Thain, "He no longer deserves a free pass for everything stemming from that disaster," and adding that "his performance has been mixed."
Portfolio notes that Merrill's "ugly quarter" comes in part from his own missteps, and Fierce Finance notes that "the bloom is off the rose."
Sad face!
Henry Blodget, on Clusterstock, is a calm voice in the wilds: "The media is trying to hang Thain on the 'I said we had enough capital' petard — the same one that felled Erin Callan at Lehman. Despite the horrific losses, Merrill's in better shape than Lehman, and Thain deserves more time."
But hark! What's that? From 941 Park Avenue, we think we can hear something. Could it be — cackling?
Stan O'Neal, Are You Listening? [DealBook/NYT]
Heated Exchange [NYP]
The restlessly creative (and constantly commissioned) composer Nico Muhly continues along his rigorously offbeat path on his second album. The title piece has mezzo-soprano Abigail Fischer reciting a list of old phone numbers and addresses that she and Muhly wrote from memory; “Wonders” includes settings of a poem by King James I and an excerpt from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (circa 1356). Electronica, minimalism, and the Baroque all meet here.
Ali Stephens for Chanel [wannabe socialite]
Related: Video: We Race Ali Stephens! Literally!
Don't let this happen!Photo-illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: istockphoto, Courtesy of IFC Films
Look, we certainly have our problems with Hollywood obvious-restater Paul Dergarabedian, the head of box-office analysis firm Media by Numbers. We've called, with no success, for entertainment reporters to stop depending on Dergarabedian's inane commentary. But we certainly wish the guy no physical harm — which is why we're so alarmed by the story in this morning's Variety speculating that the darkness-and-light one-two punch of The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia! could make this coming weekend the most lucrative in box-office history.
What if Variety's right, and the box office this weekend surpasses the $218.4 million brought in that weekend in July 2006 when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest opened? Can you imagine what would happen Monday morning? Paul Dergarabedian, whose entire life is comparing numbers with other numbers, would be faced with a number that's bigger than any number he's ever seen before. We shudder to imagine the consequences (though we're happy to have our genius photo editor Everett illustrate them, above).
How can you avert the horrible explosion of poor Paul Dergarabedian? Simple: Don't go to the movies this weekend. Don't let those box-office receipts pile up! If you were thinking about seeing Mamma Mia!, go to the zoo instead. If you already bought your tickets to see The Dark Knight in IMAX, give 'em to us. But for the love of God, don't let Paul Dergarabedian see a number on Monday morning that's larger than $218.4 million. No one wants that.
Studios eye box office record [Variety]
Earlier: Paul Dergarabedian Must Be Stopped
Paul Dergarabedian Watch: Paul D. Compares Numbers With Other Numbers
This Weekend, ‘Mamma Mia!’ and ‘The Dark Knight’ Battle for the Very Soul of America
Getty Images
• Elisabeth Bumiller has the scoop on the "huge 300-person foreign-policy campaign bureaucracy, organized like a mini State Department." Advisers are organized into groups based on their areas of expertise and each day send "hundreds of e-mail messages and reams of position papers and talking points…to members of the core group," who then send Obama an e-mail on world developments with anticipated questions and suggested answers. Most of the core advisers opposed the Iraq war and "tend to be more liberal and to emphasize using the 'soft power' of diplomacy and economic aid." [NYT]
• Marc Ambinder says that the McCain response is that "John McCain doesn't need daily talking points," though "McCain is also very clearly learning as he is going, too." Ambinder wonders whether the advising system Obama is using "will work in the Oval Office." [Atlantic]
• Jennifer Rubin wonders where these 300 advisers have been during Obama's foreign-policy mistakes, like calling for an undivided Jerusalem and not meeting with General Petraeus. It's possible that "this unwieldy and bloated operation is utterly ineffective and doesn’t prevent or catch errors." Or perhaps they simply exist to "provide the patina of national-security expertise when, in fact, the major foreign-policy objectives are really driven by domestic ideology." [Contentions/Commentary]
• Matthew Yglesias points out that while McCain doesn't have daily talking points, it doesn't mean "he can talk about national-security issues with fluency and skill without them." In fact, "he's made a ton of gaffes, just as you would expect from an underprepared candidate." McCain is allowed to get away with them because, to the press, "his years in captivity decades ago are adequate demonstration that he understands national-security issues, even though there's no real basis for that view." It's "doubly frustrating" that McCain would then brag that he doesn't need assistance on foreign policy. [Atlantic]
• Noam Scheiber takes special note of Colin Powell being named as someone who gives Obama "outside advice." Scheiber still doesn't think Powell will endorse Obama, but "it's certainly savvy of Obama to put him in play, so to speak." It "would be a big deal if he got" the endorsement. [Stump/TNR]
• Vaughn Ververs, meanwhile, notes that the "fact that the campaign appears to feel the need to bolster his foreign-policy credentials with the trip highlights just how little time [he] has been in the arena." Obama is "taking precious time out of his campaign" to "innoculate himself" against claims that he's not ready to handle our dangerous world. [Horserace/CBS News]
• John Dickerson likewise writes that Obama leads McCain on every issue except national security, on which he "trails badly." Next week's trip abroad will, if it works out as the campaign hopes, "address his key weakness, perhaps permanently." [Slate]
• Steve Clemons writes that European leaders will try to discern whether Obama has "deep insights into the evolving tectonic realities of great-state competition" and if he has plans to address them. One worrying aspect of Obama's trip is that he's skipping Brussels, "the capital of Europe," which could "amplify doubt about him and his strategic template." [Washington Note] —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.
E! Online - So goes Plano, Texas, so goes the movie nation: The Dark Knight is one hot ticket.
A black dress from Isabel Marant's fall 08 collection.
Back off, Naf Naf.Photo: imaxtree
The French really must have a soft spot for high fashion. While the CFDA has been struggling to impose penalties on fast-fashion plagiarizers here for years, this marks yet another copyright win for high fashion in France. Just a few weeks ago, a French judge ruled that eBay must pay LVMH 40 million euros for selling counterfeit merchandise.
In Brief: Penalty For Copying [WWD]
Photo: WireImage
"It's a shortie. In the business, we call it a shortie. They found it my bathroom. I make them. I make a line of these. It's for guys who have good legs and want to show them in public." —Will Arnett on the tiny robe he sported on 30 Rock [USA Today]
"Don't I look terrible? I don't know where to go at night looking like this, I look so repulsive. I look like a wino and I'm sure whenever I go anywhere people look at me and say 'Look at him, is he okay?'" —Billy Collins on his X-Files: I Want to Believe look [Moviehole]
"You can put all your lights up and you can have your security and you can have your culture and you can do anything you want, but I was there when the Buggles threw on the first video ever. I saw it all: Duran Duran's 'Planet Earth,' all of it." —Slipnot's Shawn "Clown" Crahan is a grizzled video-music veteran [MTV]
"I have belly fat like everybody else, and I don't want to be airbrushed on the cover of a magazine. I don't want someone to swap out my stomach with a supermodel's. I don't want dirty old men looking at me in my underwear."—Mamma Mia's Amanda Seyfried on why she's not posing for Maxim anytime soon [Philadelphia Daily News via PopMatters]
If you've seen the debut video for She & Him's single "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" the ethereal lighting and animated birds circling a wide-eyed, porcelain-faced Zooey Deschanel (in a wardrobe of signature sixties shifts) were probably what you were expecting from the two-piece fronted by Deschanel and producer extraordinaire M. Ward. The banjo-playing ghosts and the ax decapitations may have come as a bit of a surprise, though. "We put the kibosh on the fake blood," makeup artist Vanessa Rose Price says of the terms she and Deschanel hashed out for the video's exceedingly cute hair and makeup, which stand in stark opposition to the plot's macabre leanings. "Zooey usually likes to look very pretty and very doll-like," Price says, explaining that the extra lashes and deliberate excess of Benefit's Posie Tint that she applied on the actress-turned-singer's lips and cheeks were meant to be cartoonish—a compromise that didn't involve the grotesque. That, Price says, was left for post-production.
Photo: Patrick McMullan
Here's what Zelda and David, the couple that took in his daughters when he finally went to rehab, told him about that time.
Zelda: “You were very serious, very somber, and it felt kind of belligerent, like you really weren’t interested, like you really didn’t want to talk to us much, but we were a necessary evil. This was a good place to put the girls. You were that way and — ”
Pat interrupted. “And you were high.”
Zelda: “You were a bit disheveled.”
David: “Disheveled and high.”
Zelda: “Yes.”
Pat: “And you fell on the floor.”
David: “In what way?”
Pat: “You just kind of lost your balance and fell on the floor, and I remember thinking that if one of the babies was there, the baby would have suffered some pretty severe injury.”
That's not even remotely the worst of it.
That Carr managed to reinvent himself as a father, award-winning reporter, and potato-faced speaker of truth does make his story heroic and definitely worth reading, but we can't imagine ever wanting to live it. High-school libraries might want to stock up in bulk.
You lookin' at me?Photo courtesy of PR Consulting
AP - "85 Years of Great Writing in Time" (Time Books, 560 pages, $26.95): Those of us who traffic in words for a living feel somewhat under siege these days, like a Donkey Kong machine sitting forlornly in the corner of a ramshackle pizza parlor while teenagers on the sidewalk outside play Grand Theft Auto on their handhelds.
The stork has been rather busy here at Style.com, which will welcome three staff babies this year. But at Just Cavalli, the flashier flamingo (what else?) is the avian choice for fall. No offense, Mossy, but if we had to play "who wore it better?" we'd have to go with the dashing duo (above), photographed by the famous African portraitist, Seydou Keïta, whose less-well-known work will be celebrated this fall at HackelBury Fine Art in London. As for these sisters, they've been earning air miles—their portrait was exhibited at ArtHamptons last weekend.
In a classic rock-and-a-hard-place scenario, K-Fed was granted full custody of the kids in the out-of-court agreement reached in the Spears-Federline custody battle. Apparently no third parties were available.
What, no baby-bump watch? Jennifer Garner is five months pregnant and we didn't even get a chance to speculate.
Unusual bedfellows: If she hadn't blogged about it, we wouldn't have believed it, but Courtney Love absolutely adores "dearest friend" Gwyneth Paltrow and her "Eternal Glow." This would be sweet if it wasn't so creepy.
A friend in need is a friend indeed. Nobody knows that better than mother and daughter retail dynamos Sarah Lerfel and Colette Roussaux, as their intention of parking a shopping truck on the sidewalk of Colette during its seven-week refurbishment was turned down by Paris authorities earlier this week. Never fear, longtime friends and collaborators Comme des Garçons came to the rescue yesterday by vacating the premises of their perfumery, with its signature hot-pink glass facade in Place du Marché Saint-Honoré. "It was a last-minute decision, and one which has made us very happy," admits Lerfel, whose "Mini Colette" promises to soften the blow for summer shoppers in search of retail therapy. That is, until August 23, when all returns to normal and the 213 Rue Saint-Honoré address prepares to open its redesigned doors.
The August issue of Tatler magazine is just now hitting our shores, and its annual Most Invited list is happily satiating the social curiosities of New York's considerable number of Anglophiles. While more than one party-loving person has maneuvered to get higher on the list, we met up with one well-connected young woman in London who was not disappointed to see her ranking fall from the single digits all the way to number 94: Camilla Al Fayed. "Where have you gone, Camills?" the entry asks. "Come back, we need you. At the very least for your short skirts." To answer the first question, the Harrods heiress has been keeping a much lower profile and steering clear of the party scene, including events like the haute couture and her friends Elton John and David Furnish's annual White Tie and Tiara ball. (According to many, this is a good thing, as there was more than one Paris Hilton comparison in the works, which isn't really appropriate—the Paris Ritz, which Al Fayed's family owns, ain't quite a Hilton, people.) Instead, she's been spending some time in Los Angeles scoping out spaces for some possible retail ventures and getting more involved with the family business, an undertaking that has no doubt pleased the Al Fayed clan. "It can be very easy to become just another party girl, especially in this town," she told us. "But that is not what I want to be."
Richard Nicoll and Thomas Pink. One's a London fashion week darling with a reputation for idiosyncratic tailoring, the other's a Jermyn Street stalwart famed for taking English shirtmaking to the wider audience. Now they've teamed up for a nine-piece capsule collection for Fall '08 that will hit stores in mid-August. The focus, naturally enough, is on shirts, with two accompanying skirts and dresses—but this is Pink without the starch, so to speak. "There is only one poplin shirt and one poplin bib-fronted shirtdress, but the rest is fluid and refined," Nicoll explains. Although he wouldn't go into details, we can expect silk georgette silhouettes in stormy hues—mauve, dove gray, olive, navy, and peacock blue—that subtly pay homage to both labels. "It's a new manifestation of Thomas Pink!" Nicoll promises.
Good news for us shoeaholics: Rag & Bone is officially on the market. The first shoe collection hits stores in November, and we already have our eye on the shearling ankle boot. Rag & Bone ankle boot, $375 to $435, for more information, see www.rag-bone.com.
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