Suede's winning dress.Photo: Courtesy of Bravo

In fact, this turned out to be true. A number of eyewitnesses say they saw the monster with their own eyes. "I saw the monster," says Michael Meehan, a 22-year-old waiter at the Surfside Inn, which sits above the beach where the monster washed up. "I just came walking down the beach and everyone was looking at it. No one knew what it was. It kind of looked like a dog, but it had this crazy-looking beak. I mean, I would freak out if something like that popped up next to me in the water."

So did anyone there, you know, do anything about it?

"This woman kept calling animal control," said Meehan. "She wanted to name it after herself. I think they came and got it. The carcass. Whatever it was."

But did they? The East Hampton branch of animal control referred Daily Intel to a supervisor who did not return calls for comment. And Navitski, of Evolutionary Media Group, says her friend's sister (who doesn't want to talk to the press, though Plum TV will host another woman, Jenna Hewitt, who claims she took a photo, tomorrow) says animal control never came. "They say an old guy came and carted it away," she said. "He said, 'I'm going to mount it on my wall.'"

Jennifer Love Hewitt's Ghost Lawsuit Busted

Graphic novelist crafts book on Mexican murders (Reuters)

Reuters - Graphic novelist Phoebe Gloeckner, whose depiction of sex and childhood traumas has courted controversy, is now contributing to a book about the largely unsolved murders and disappearances of hundreds of women near the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez.

Karina Smirnoff Not a Big Bachelor Fan

The CFDA Adds 28 New Designers, Reelects DVF

Diane Von FurstenbergPhoto: Getty Images

The council also unanimously reelected Diane Von Furstenberg to serve as its president for the coming year, which is a testament to the great job she's doing. We need someone to push for healthy models and on-time runway shows, after all.

For a full list of the new designers, click through.

• Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava
• Thakoon Panichgul of Thakoon
• Holly Dunlap of Hollywould
• Jenni Kayne
• Naeem Khan
• Sue Stemp
• Dana Foley and Anna Corinna Sellinger of Foley + Corinna
• Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders
• Amy Smilovic of Tibi
• Michael Bastian
• Philip Crangi
• Ron Anderson and David Rees of Tenthousandthings
• Andrew Buckler of Buckler
• Rachel Comey
• Erica Davis of Development
• Cheryl Finegan of Virgin, Saints & Angels
• Eunice Lee of Unis
• Fiona Kotur Marin of Kotur
• Malia Mills of Malia Mills Swimwear
• Sandra Muller of Lila Gems
• Robin Renzi of Me & Ro
• Brian Reyes
• Loree Rodkin
• Kara Ross
• Araks Yeramyan of Araks

28 Designers Become CFDA Members [WWD]

Kelly Price Is Next Roxie in London's 'Chicago' (Playbill)

Feud up in Smoke, Cheech & Chong Reunite

Hundreds of Bags Getting Left Behind at JFK Today

Photo: Getty Images

You know what the best part is? Those new fees you now have to pay for checking your bags? Not refundable. Even if they are lost. Happy Wednesday!

Bagagge Snafu Causes Chaos at Kennedy Airport [NYDN]

Canadian Man Spends $9K on Old Royal Underpants

This is the photo Hansons
Auctioneers issued of someone
named Samantha Rhodes
modeling Queen V's underpants
at an unknown date.Photo: Hansons Auctioneers/PA
Wire

''These pants, considering their provenance and pedigree, are very exciting,'' [Auctioneer Charles] Hanson said. ''They are monogrammed and crested and we know that they are hers.''

The "open-crotch style" underpants have a 50-inch waist with a drawstring — the popular style for underpants back in Victorian times. Their new owner is a Canadian man. If he knows what's good for him, he'll put them on eBay and try to get the price up to five figures like those dirty pants.

Queen Victoria's bloomers sell for 4, 500 pounds [NYT]
Related: Extremely Vintage Levi’s Could Be Yours for a Mere $10K

Yankees Trade Kyle Farnsworth for Ivan Rodriguez!

Photo: Getty Images

But the timing of trading Farnsworth is priceless, and the trade itself almost bittersweet. There has been no more hated Yankee over the past few seasons than Farnsworth. (An example: In a game against Cincinnati last month, he was actually cheered for getting hurt by a line drive.) His entrance to games had become the polar opposite of Mariano Rivera’s: a unified chorus of boos raining down from 50,000-plus spectators. But he played the part of the whipping boy so well; it was hard not to find an easy punch line in his obsession with Big Buck Hunter or apparently superb baking skills, or not to soak up the words of wisdom from "pr0FF3ss0r_F4rnsw0rth" on the Dugout.

Yet in the last month or so, Farnsworth had been not just effective, but downright great, as the Yankees setup man. (At one point, he’d thrown nine straight hitless innings — a sort of reliever’s no-hitter.) It was almost like watching a child come of age, or at the very least, a junkie graduate from rehab a new man. Yes, he was the terrible Kyle Farnsworth, but he was our terrible Kyle Farnsworth, and look at him now! The Yankees bullpen might be able to absorb his loss, but Bronx-cheering Yankee fans may not find it so easy. A good whipping boy is tough to come by. —Joe DeLessio

Yankees find their catcher for stretch, trade for Rodriguez [ESPN]
Related: Leitch: Jason Giambi, Yankee Most True — and the One We Most Deserve

The Streets Hit the Road

Photo: Getty Images

2. Tokyo Police Club feat. Aesop Rock and Yak Ballz, "Baskervilles (Amplive Remix)"
Aesop Rock's sidekick probably asked him how he was so easily able to drop complicated rhymes over this agitated remix of TPC's Elephant Shell track. We hope Aesop's response was, "Elementary, my dear Yak Ballz." [Pitchfork]

3. Spoon, "Rocks Off" (Rolling Stones cover)
You know what would get our rocks off? If Spoon had a horn section play on all their songs, like they did recently with this Stones cover. [ You Ain't No Picasso]

4. Blitzen Trapper, "Furr"
Who knows where the extra "r" comes from in the title, but with all the stuff going on in this song (which is the title track from the band's next album), we're guessing it probably got tossed in there by mistake. [I Rock Cleveland]

5. Fat Pimp feat. Jodean, "Lollypop"
We don't know why there are so many innuendo-filled hip-hop songs sharing this title lately, but it could be just the thing that finally makes oral sex popular again. [Ants in My Trance]
—Ehren Gresehover

Rate-a-Trailer: Greatest Chihuahua Movie of All Time

From the Barn to ‘Vogue’: Farm Animals Are All the Rage

Christopher Bailey and pig, Nicole Kidman and cows, and Agyness Deyn and piglet.Photo: British Esquire, Vogue, British Vogue

Pot Smoker Nearly Ejected From Pot-Smoking Party for Pot-Smoking

Photo: Getty Images

Naked Actors Hoping to Move Indoors: The Public Theater's production of Hair, currently at Central Park's Delacorte Theater, could move to Broadway if the show's producers have their way. A poster for the show appeared on the official Website for Broadway Booking Office, indicating the Public Theater is seeking to transfer the show after it completes its outdoor run on August 31 — exciting news for its actors and their mosquito-bitten genitals! [Playbill]

Shia LaBeouf Actually a Hero: Following yesterday's revelation that Shia LaBeouf's accident on Sunday wasn't his fault (despite his being drunk), it's now being reported that the actor was encouraged by the other driver to flee the scene before cops arrived, but LaBeouf stayed saying, "Nah, man. I gotta deal with this," according to a witness. Also, said the witness, LaBeouf tried to talk George Lucas out of making the new Indiana Jones, but Lucas wouldn't listen. [MTV]

Cedric the Entertainer Finally Coming to Broadway: Cedric the Entertainer is joining John Leguizamo in Broadway's production of David Mamet's American Buffalo this fall, terrific news for all for Cedric fans who've long suspected he was better than every movie he's ever been cast in. [NYP]

Alicia Keys Doing Things: Alicia Keys is reportedly under consideration for the role of Agent 355 in the possible film adaptation of Bryan K. Vaughan's Y: The Last Man. Also, she's singing the next Bond theme with Jack White. Amy Winehouse was the producers' first choice, but "she was too busy doing drugs," says Nikki Finke. [/Film, Deadline Hollywood Daily]

Manderson Overboard! The Silver Fox Swims With Sharks

Anderson Cooper Shirtless
Anderson Cooper Kelly Ripa
Anderson Cooper 360
Anderson Cooper Interview
Anderson Cooper Kathy Griffin
Anderson Cooper Katrina
Anderson Cooper My Boo

Kelly Ripa, Kathy Griffin, and "shirtless" came before Hurricane Katrina? Anderson Cooper has the gayest fans ever.

Just in case you want to see those popular videos, some of them are really good — particularly the Kathy Griffin one, the Kelly Ripa one, and the My Boo one. The shirtless one, sadly, was from before he became a gym freak, so it's a real disappointment.

But back to the whole shark thing. Anderson: You are like the last to jump on this craze. Your journalistic competitor Kelly Killoren Bensimon did this same segment last week. And she showed more skin, Goddamn it!

Anderson Up Close With Sharks [CNN.com]
Related: Shark Week Lies! [Vulture]

Can L.A. Become Paparazzi-Proof?

Titanic's Been Unsinkable...Until Dark Knight? Jay Thomas, one of LiLo's costars in the recently wrapped Labor Pains, tells me that the 22-year-old comeback starlet couldn't have been any...

What is a true Yankee anymore? It’s not an idle question. Our Bronx heroes, throughout the Steinbrenner years, have not been measured by their statistics, their consistency, or even, really, their championships. The Yankee Way is an elusive, slippery concept; you have to Look the Part, acting as some sort of bridge back to the time when baseball was pure, men were men, and players were motivated by the concept of Team and did it for the Love of the Game. This time, of course, never existed.

Who passes through this fictional canyon? Derek Jeter, of course, and Mariano Rivera. Jorge Posada has a chance, if he ever plays again. Alex Rodriguez? Not until you win a title, buddy. But it’s a different day now, and perhaps we need to redefine what a True Yankee is. Every generation gets the hero that it deserves. The fifties gave us the Mick, a square-jawed, cartoonishly chiseled All-American who was all anyone could want on the surface and, in private, an alcoholic disaster. The seventies gave us Reggie, a self-promoter who seemed to stand as a symbol, to both sides, of the racial and class divides tearing the city apart. The nineties gave us Jeter, a post-racial (Obama before Obama was cool!) matinee idol who studied the Jordan playbook, an above-average player who carried himself like a superstar, who knew exactly how to appeal to jaded sportswriters who miss the days when players didn’t openly treat them like dirt.

And now, in 2008, a time when every record is steroidally suspect, a time when fans spend as much time analyzing players’ contracts as they do their statistics, who is our superstar? Who best represents what the Yankees have been, who they are now, and who they will become? I can’t think of anybody better than Jason Giambi.

So, now, Sammy Sosa having pretended before Congress that he doesn’t speak English, Andy Pettitte saying with a straight face that he didn’t know HGH could give one a competitive advantage, and Roger Clemens vigorously denying that he recalls bleeding through his pants, Jason Giambi almost seems like an up-front, straightforward guy these days. He has told the truth twice about steroids over the last decade, giving him a batting average of about .078, which is better than everybody else’s zero. And every time Giambi has been honest, people have tried to throw him out of baseball.

His extended commitment from the Yankees, back in 2001, proved one infallible and oft-ignored fact about the ultimate result of steroid use in baseball: Steroids are good for you and will make you happy. Before he discovered BALCO in the late nineties, Giambi was more known for his batting eye than his power. Then, out of nowhere, his home-run totals increased dramatically, just in time for him to become a free agent. The Yankees needed him. Giambi was in his prime, coming off his two greatest seasons and featured, all scraggly and tattooed, on the cover of Sports Illustrated as “The New Face of Baseball.” For the next seven years, the Bronx would have its folk hero. Who took two years to collapse. Giambi’s tenure has included those admissions, that mysterious tumor that eliminated most of his 2004 season, a confirmation that he had tested positive for amphetamines, and a bewildering admission that he has shared “rally thongs” with Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. And, of course, no World Series rings. Just eighteen months ago, Giambi was perhaps the most reviled athlete in New York.

And then he started hitting again. Giambi is in the top ten of the American League in home runs and slugging percentage and one of the main reasons the Yankees, with the struggles and injuries of Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter, are still in the American League pennant chase. Most important, he has stayed healthy. Without him, the Yankees would be toast. And, perhaps most strange: At last, after years of being the Yankees’ Big Free-Agent Mistake, he is a fan favorite. Enough time has passed; we aren’t big on permanence these days.

Two weeks ago, in a bid to secure a victory for Giambi in the online balloting for the All-Star Game, the Yankees gave away fake mustaches to fans in honor of Giambi’s Village People–esque facial adornment this season. (Blogs have taken to calling him “The State Trooper.”) The gambit did not work, but it was still a jaw-dropper. Do Yankees fans finally love Jason Giambi? Was a goofy mustache and a few homers all it took?

Suddenly, the unthinkable: Can the Yankees afford not to re-sign Giambi in the off-season? They have a team option on him this off-season; they can either pay him $22 million to hang around another year, or $5 million to cut him loose and/or renegotiate. Before Mustache Mania, the Yankees wouldn’t have considered the notion. Now, they may have no choice. (It helps that Giambi is putting up his best numbers right when it will ultimately benefit him financially.)

Which brings us back to Jason Giambi as the True Yankee. Jason Giambi is a mercenary who has benefited from the use of illegal, banned substances, who only came here because he was offered the most money, who never enjoyed his stay until it was almost time to leave. His fans never much cared for him until he found a goofy gimmick and finally started hitting the baseball. He has never really connected with his team and his city, and only ever looked for his self-interest. Over the course of his contract, public perception of his steroid activities has moved from willful ignorance to mock outrage to “whatever works, just hit homers.” Jason Giambi has been the dopey home-run hitter who hung around just long enough to see public opinion fall his way. Because public opinion is fickle and random; seven years is a lifetime. Willing to forgive all failings because of some homers? Counting on the hypocrisy of our “heroes”? This is what we do now.

Jason Giambi is not the Yankee that we want. But he is the Yankee that we deserve. —Will Leitch

Related: Yankees Trade Kyle Farnsworth for Ivan Rodriguez!

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

rebecca minkoff kicks off. literally.

Rebecca Minkoff has a lot on her mind these days. There's her recent engagement. And the Rebecca Minkoff apparel brand she's set to relaunch next year. And the line of small leather goods she's debuting for spring, much to the delight of the online Rebecca Minkoff fan base that's dubbed itself "the Minkettes." And the fact that she has an online fan base so devoted that they've adopted a nickname (and maybe even a gang sign, too, who knows?). But what's most preoccupying Minkoff at the moment is…kickball. "We play in Central Park every summer," the designer explained, "and I swear, I'm totally obsessed. There's nothing like that sound on the ball when you give it a really solid kick." Perhaps future collections of Minkoff's leather goods will see a black-and-white diamond-check soccer ball theme emerging? "Hmmmm," Minkoff stalled. "I'll have to run that one by the Minkettes."

—Maya Singer

Photo: Courtesy of Rebecca Minkoff

Source: The Style File | 30 Jul 2008 | 9:25 pm

Kathy Griffin’s Plastic Surgery ‘Didn’t Help’; Simon Doonan Extols the PedEgg

Kathy GriffinPhoto: FilmMagic

PLASTIC SURGERY
• Kathy Griffin on plastic surgery in Fitness magazine: "I've had [a] face-lift, eye job and all that stuff. It didn't help me one bit. It didn't get me happier or make me look particularly younger." [NYP]

SKIN
• Simon Doonan bought two PedEggs for the price of one to tackle his foot fungus after he was invited to a yacht party with Valentino and Tom Ford. He says the extra makes an excellent Parmesan-cheese grater. [NYO]

HAIR
• Stop the world — Agyness Deyn has a blunt cut bob à la Yves Saint Laurent's fall '08 runway models. [British Elle]

• J.Crew actually has some interesting headbands. [Moment/NYT]

MAKEUP
• Blake Lively knows how to work her "Inner V," the inner corner of the eye that looks divine when highlighted with shimmery shadow. [BellaSugar]

• Lancôme's Oscillation, the battery-operated mascara, isn't launching until November, but for one-day only tomorrow it'll be on sale online at Sephora.com and in New York at Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale's 59th Street, Lord & Taylor, Macy's Herald Square, and the Lancôme boutique on Columbus Avenue. So cancel your lunch date now. [Teen Vogue]

NAILS
• China Glaze came out with a glossy black nail lacquer with red speckles called Loubou Heels, a shade inspired by Christian Louboutin. [British Vogue]

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 9:15 pm

Live Nation Didn’t Mean All Those Nasty Things It Said About Record Labels

Live Nation, the always-brilliant tour promoter that paid Jay-Z, Madonna, Nickelback, and Shakira tens of millions of dollars to ditch their major record labels, is now hilariously considering outsourcing the distribution of those artists' albums to … major record labels! According to today's New York Post, CEO Michael Rapino — tasked with cleaning up the mess left behind by his recently ousted predecessor Michael Cohl (the guy that gave Jay-Z, who is 38, $150 million for his next three records) — is keen to avoid spending money creating a label-like infrastructure through which to release CDs (something we figured they'd have to do since nobody thinks record labels will actually be around long enough to market and distribute Jay-Z's next three records). So, Universal, Warner, and Sony-BMG could soon be in the awkward position of having to release music by their poached artists. Also, this would make Live Nation's bottom line partially dependent on the health of its competitors. If you were wondering if the imminent extinction of the entire recording industry could possibly be any more entertaining, the answer, apparently, is yes!

LIVE NATION MAY BE FORCED TO LEAN ON MUSIC LABELS [NYP via Daily Swarm]

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 9:15 pm

Fairy Tale Comes True at Midtown Brothel

Once upon a time in midtown.Photo-illustration: Everett Bogue; Photos: Newscom,
istockphoto

The other girls at Big Daddy Lou's Hot Lap Dance Club, in midtown, always thought Sabina Johansson, with her Swedish accent and big brown eyes, was stuck up. But in reality, a "dancer" the 23-year-old worked with at the nightclub, which was recently shuttered for promoting prostitution, tells the Post, "She was a hard worker." Even though they treated her badly, the dancer said, Sabina patiently helped all of the prostitutes every night, without complaining. "If we needed help with an outfit or curling our hair, she would help us," she reminisced. And when a ruddy Prince Charming, a lottery-winning doorman called Richie Randazzo, swept in and swept Sabina-rella off her feet, all the other girls realized: They were painfully jealous. "They're just mad because she got the $5 million doorman," the dancer said. "That's what they all dream about."*

$5 MILLION DOORMAN SHOWN THE DOOR [NYP]
Related: Surprise! $5 Million Doorman's Girlfriend Turns Out to Be a Prostie
*At this point in the movie version in our heads, all of the Big Daddy's hookers burst into "There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This" from Sweet Charity.

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 30 Jul 2008 | 9:00 pm

Video: Inside Alexis Bittar’s Studio

Jewelry designer Alexis Bittar is known for his Lucite pieces, adored by the likes of Kim Cattrall, Madonna, and Cameron Diaz. But how does he transform plastic into such coveted baubles? We took our video cameras down to his sprawling Dumbo studio to see the process up close. Though he used to make jewelry in his bedroom, Bittar now employs a team of 160, who carve and paint each piece by hand. Press play to see just how Bittar transforms Lucite from shapeless chunks to essential accessories.

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 8:35 pm

Shark Week Lies!

Caution: Will absolutely eat you.Courtesy of Discovery Channel

It's Shark Week, America's only holiday between Fourth of July and Labor Day! Discovery's super-hyped promotion features shows like Surviving Sharks (pretty self-explanatory), Day of the Shark (do sharks attack more during the day or night?), and Deadly Stripes (in which a diver swims with a man-eating tiger shark without a cage). We're not ashamed to say that we've been watching Shark Week obsessively, and we couldn't help but notice a recurring — and disturbing — theme. Sharks are sorta scary, Discovery Channel tells us, but they're not that dangerous! They’re actually pretty cute! They could kill us and eat us right now, but they’re not going to! None of the divers ever gets hurt, and sharks come off looking like harmless, misunderstood heroes of the wild.

"It sounds crazy, but it was kind of like the relationships you have between dolphin and man," says diver Mark Addison on Deadly Stripes, while petting a tiger shark. The show even takes time to describe the shark's natural caution toward humans, evolved over thousands of years of us killing them. But why, pray tell, did we used to kill them? Because — surprise! — they enjoy eating us.

Look, it has to be said, for the safety of our children: Just because that tiger shark is not eating Mark Addison right this moment does not mean it will not eat him, ever. Look at it from our human perspective. If you see a cute cow crossing the street, you’ll probably stop your car and let it pass. That cute cow would think, See, those humans aren’t that dangerous! They could kill us and eat us right now, but they’re not going to! But if a cute cow is crossing the street, and you’ve been stuck in your car for a week without food, well, that cute cow is turning into some cute rib eye, fast.

All we’re saying is that regardless of how Discovery depicts them, sharks are not your friends. Especially if they’re hungry. —Ari Rosenblum

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 8:30 pm

Yuppies Discouraged From Partying in Tompkins Square Park

Downtown Brooklyn: Now that the grassy Metrotech Commons has banned all the new pups in the hood, there's hardly any place for them to poop or tinkle. [Brooklyn Paper]
East Harlem: Italian-Americans who once lived here are going online to donate money to restore the decaying Holy Rosary Church, where a huge chunk of plaster almost fell on a family in the middle of a baptism. [NYT]
East Village: Three women in Abercrombie T-shirts pushing baby strollers started dancing at a rock concert in Tompkins Square Park, but stopped when they realized the song was "Die, Yuppie Scum" and the concert was marking next week's twentieth anniversary of the TSP riots. That's sad. Even if the song was directed at them, they still had the right to dance to it. [amNY]

Flushing: Locals who want a bike lane on Queens Boulevard have caught the ears of the city's transportation honchos, but what they perhaps don't want to face is that, unless the lane comes with big, fat barriers, they will spend all their time biking around parked or moving motor vehicles using it. That is just the truth — but good luck! [Forest Hills 72]
Fordham: Teens want the shuttered old library here to be a youth center, but the city's eyeing it as an animal shelter. Says a teen, "I felt like, wow, they care more about animals than us?" [Talk Bronx]
Gowanus: Two local biology professors think that the muck in the toxic Gowanus Canal may harbor the key to future antibiotics. Uninsured New Yorkers, grab your pool skimmers! [Gowanus Lounge]
Lower East Side: A Curbed reader has noticed a bad smell that has long irked us (not the one at our subway stop) — the stench of rotting milk (we hope it's milk) under the Williamsburg Bridge in East River Park. [Curbed]
Upper West Side: Bloomberg supports the big developer Extell's proposal to open a Costco in an apartment building on the West Side Highway around 60th Street, but many other pols oppose it, saying it will up traffic and kill small business. As long as we can ride in the cart and eat Combos while Mom shops, we're all for it. [NYS]

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 30 Jul 2008 | 8:30 pm

Artist Patricia Piccinini Sculpts a Little Monster, Plus a Merman Thing

Patricia Piccinini’s The Long Awaited (2008). Courtesy of Yvon Lambert New York, Paris.

This vile, adorable creature (the naked guy, not the sleeping kid who is indeed part of the sculpture) is inspired by Albert Camus's The Stranger in which a listless French man awakens to the absurdity of his existence. Here, Patricia Piccinini's work, on view at Yvon Lambert for one more day, seems to be asking us whose existence is more preposterous: the wrinkled creature or the puppy-faced boy cuddling up to it? In fact, the more we look, the more we see a resemblance between these two lovable napping things. —Emma Pearse

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 8:00 pm

`Mummy' heads East for Olympian senselessness (AP)

AP - The third "Mummy" installment dutifully sends its characters to China where they participate in international competitions of mummy fencing, yeti vaulting and synchronized senselessness.

Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 30 Jul 2008 | 7:55 pm

‘Britain’s Missing Top Model’ Picks a Winner

Kelly KnoxPhoto: Courtesy of The BBC

After an excruciating first season, Kelly Knox has been named the winner of Britain's Missing Top Model, the reality show in which disabled girls compete for what is undoubtedly a guaranteed spot in the top modeling stratosphere. Knox won a spread in British Marie Claire and representation by Take 2 Model Management. Born without a left forearm (something doctors tell the Daily Mail just happens "by mistake"), Knox says she's always refused to wear a prosthetic arm and didn't even classify herself as disabled until she went on the show. The other girls she beat out for the title suffered from things like deafness and complicated nerve disorders.

British Marie Claire editor Marie O'Riordan said, "To get disability discussed on the sofas throughout the land is no mean feat and using a popular format of a reality show was a clever way of seducing viewers into a more complex world." You know she has a point — watching otherwise lovely girls argue over who's more disabled is so seductive. Until the next season premieres to seduce us further, we'll just have to keep track of Knox as she proves to the oh-so-accepting modeling and fashion industries that left forearms really aren't necessary for models.

Model triumph for Kelly who refuses to wear a prosthetic arm [Daily Mail]

Related: Video: Britain’s ‘Top Model’ for Disabled Girls Is Quite Disturbing

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 7:50 pm

'The Bible Salesman' has humor, religion and crime (AP)

AP - "The Bible Salesman" (Little Brown and Company. 256 pages. $23.99), by Clyde Edgerton: Henry Dampier, 20 years old and raised to be a Christian gentlemen, is pursuing a career selling Bibles door-to-door when he sticks his thumb out for a ride and ends up traveling an unexpected path.

Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 30 Jul 2008 | 7:44 pm

fashion diary: minnie mortimer gaghan swims in missoni and tackles super saturday

Friday July 25
"Put on pants." My husband's practical suggestion annoys me. I love my new Earnest Sewn short shorts and I know I am not changing, but I also know that he'll insist on blasting the cold air the whole drive out to Southampton. It's all part of our ongoing temperature wars. I finish breakfast at The Mercer and hustle down to A.P.C and pick up the heart patch-pocket navy sweater I've had my eye on. Then I head straight into Georgia Tapert Living to score one of her cotton herringbone throws. I have about 50 at home in Malibu. They feel like cashmere, but are cotton, so you wash them in the machine. Today I choose baby blue.

In Southampton, I change into my Missoni bikini and take a dip in the pool. I love the crochet thing, but it only works in calm waters. One wave in the ocean and those little triangles rearrange themselves in the most unflattering positions.

Glancing at my watch, I see that the Dior Beauty dinner is just hours away and start to worry slightly about what to wear. I dry off and run over to my sister-in-law Tinsley Mortimer's, who from time to time will very kindly allow me to raid her closet. She is the host of the dinner and has a few extra Dior dresses hanging around. One frock, a single-shoulder turquoise-and-electric-blue flouncy thing, catches my eye, but many safety pins later, Tinz and I admit it isn't working. I return home and throw on my trusty Jill Stuart rose-printed silk slip dress and pair it with Dani Stahl for Lia Sophia bangles and gold-and-cork Louboutins and off I go. At dinner, I'm seated between Fabiola Beracasa, who looks stunning in a black knit Azzedine Alaïa dress with a Chanel chain belt, and Euan Rellie. Dinner is delicious, but I skip out on dessert to rest up for Super Saturday.

Saturday July 26
Super Saturday is like a designer Lollapalooza. (I must admit I've never been to Lollapalooza, but if they have the same Crumbs cupcake stand, I am willing to check it out). I wear a shirtdress in navy-and-white check from my Minnie Mortimer collection and pair it with a Panama-style hat and rosary beads, both of which I picked up on a recent trip to Cartagena, Columbia. Flat Louboutin navy espadrilles allow me to cover lots of ground. I manage some good finds: An old-man cashmere at Turnbull and Asser, Smythson place cards for my birthday dinner next weekend, and the Dorrit ruffle sandal from Loeffler Randall were some of my best loot.

Worn out from the shopping and the heat, I head home and put on my Keep Me pajamas. My husband and I spend the night curled up on the couch and watch "A Clockwork Orange" for the hundredth time.

Sunday July 27

Straight out of bed, I head to the beach, this time wearing a more ocean-friendly American Apparel purple bikini. I have dozens of them in brightly colored solids. Over it I pull a Irving and Fine Indian-made embroidered tunic. Reading the Kate Moss profile in the August Vogue oceanfront is heaven until the clouds roll in and we all head for home. Lightning and thunder coax me back into my Keep Me PJs, and when the power goes out I light a candle and move on to the plastic surgery article with my dog Fuzzy Duck curled up by my side.

Photo: Patrick McMullan/PatrickMcMullan.com

Source: The Style File | 30 Jul 2008 | 7:29 pm

Lohan's BFF: A Portait of Samantha Ronson

The pro partier and sometimes-spinner is a fixture in Lindsay Lohan's life.
Source: ABC News: Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 7:27 pm

Wolf Parade’s Spencer Krug on His Terrible French and the Difference Between His Band and Arcade Fire

Photo: Jen Maler / Retna

After storming lower North America with their 2005 debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary, Canadian indie-rock heroes Wolf Parade recently released their sophomore release, At Mount Zoomer, and it was extremely well received as well. Keyboardist Spencer Krug is known to be a prickly interview now and then, but he talked gamely to Vulture about the new album, his side project band Sunset Rubdown, and why his band isn't Arcade Fire. Wolf Parade plays Terminal 5 tomorrow night and Friday.

Since you guys live in Montreal, does that mean you’re pretty fluent French speakers?
No, not at all. My French is terrible. [Guitarist] Dante [DeCaro]’s is probably worse than mine, because he doesn’t actually live here. I think we all have basically terrible French, and I don’t know whose is the worst or who is the best, because we never ever use French. The problem with my speaking French in Montreal is that if I use it I will get answered in English. But that’s a lazy cop-out; none of us have any reason for not knowing French by now.

For At Mount Zoomer I’ve heard you took a bunch of improvisational sessions at Arcade Fire's church outside Montreal (called Petite Église) and turned them into cohesive songs.
A lot of the record was done that way. Not all of it — probably two-thirds was just born out of jam sessions. That’s pretty normal, I think, for bands to work that way.

What do you see as the biggest aesthetic and philosophical differences between you guys and the Arcade Fire?
You want me to compare Wolf Parade to Arcade Fire right now?

You don’t have to.
I think the differences are huge. If you want to talk about the sonic aesthetic, they have more members, they have more ambition, more of a drive for perfection than we will ever have, so they sound bigger and they sound better. [Laughs] They will always sound tighter and more thought-out. Arcade Fire has everything just so. And that is to their benefit as a band, probably.

We’re friends, but we’re very different in terms of music and even probably politics, and how we approach our place in the world, if that makes sense. I don’t mean politics, like what they stand for, but the way they operate within this industry. They’re just more successful and have had to deal with things that we’ll never have to deal with it, like whether or not to play Saturday Night Live.

Tell me about “California Dreamer,” which is my favorite song on the new album.
It’s based on the song “California Dreaming” [by the Mamas & the Papas]. He says a line about halfway through the song that makes you realize there’s a woman involved. The line is “If I didn’t tell her / I could leave today.” He hadn’t mentioned anything about the lover until halfway through the song, and I just think it’s really cool for that. I wrote [this] song from the point of view of the woman he left behind. Who knows why the idea of that song appeals to me, about someone wanting to leave someone on the East Coast for the West Coast? I’m from the West Coast, and I miss it a lot. I want to go back there quite often. I’m from British Columbia, on the interior, and I’ve spent a lot of time in Vancouver.

Are things run differently in Wolf Parade and your side project band, Sunset Rubdown?
Sunset Rubdown is definitely more cerebral and more my personal brainchild, so I can fool around with those ideas of tying things together musically or thematically. I don’t have to really cooperate with anyone else to make that happen. —Ben Westhoff

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 7:15 pm

The Wisdom of Steve Guttenberg

The Love Goot-ru.Photo-illustration: WireImage, istockphoto

After profiling Steve Guttenberg, a.k.a. "The Goot," two weeks ago, Observer scribe Spencer Morgan felt compelled to return to his subject again this week. We can understand why. The Goot is truly a magnetic personality, his conversation a heady potpourri of misogyny, profanity, and philosophy. He's been offered a reality show, the Observer tells us, and we hope it's something along the lines of The Pick-up Artist, because we suspect Guttenberg's true destiny lies in self-help or motivational speaking. He could be a Goot-ru!

Below, a brief sampling of his wisdom.

• “Women are a magical part of life.”

• “You know, the sexual drive is the oldest drive. It’s the strongest drive, and we — as men — need to control that drive. We have to civilize ourselves.”

• “It must be divinely guided, the search for the right mate, the right partner, or not to have the right partner. It must be divinely guided, because it’s just — how on earth do you do it? You decide to go some place, and this girl that you’ve never met before decides to go some place, and you meet — there must be some spirituality to it.”

• “Talk to people who have to go and fill the gas tank, and then talk to their mom when she calls. Talk to some of the greatest artists of our time and see that they’ve got real desires and real needs — and, sure, they’re full of angst and human emotions like envy and anxiety and certain neuroses. Look in the Yellow Pages under ‘psychologists’; see if there’s anything listed there. Damn right, I’m a little pissed off. I’m pissed off that John Belushi and River Phoenix were killed by Hollywood. I’m pissed off about all those young people getting off that bus right now and going after all those parts and how they’re going to be used and abused and thrown around and wound up.…Look at that line of people trying out for American Idol. That was me! I know what happened to those guys. I’m on the eighth floor. I want to be on the twentieth floor. But on the other side of that, I wake up on the eighth floor and I go, ‘I’m happy I’m on the eighth floor. How many guys get to be on the eighth floor?’”

Also: What Floor Are You On?, by Steve Guttenberg? Publishing GOLD.

Somebody Stop Him! The Goot is Loose…Part Deux [NYO]
Related: The Goot's Guide to Loving Women

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 30 Jul 2008 | 7:15 pm

Meet the New Girl: Eniko Mihalik

Eniko MihalikPhoto: imaxtree

Hungary may be the new Russia as far as producing some of the world's most exquisite-looking people goes. One of our new favorites, Eniko Mihalik, and last year's Prada runway opener, Adina Forizs, both hail from Hungary, but Eniko is undeniably the girl of the moment. She debuted in 2006 with Karl Lagerfeld's ultimate blessing when she walked in his Chanel couture show in Paris. Though she didn't quite catch on with other casting directors immediately after that, her patience is about to pay off big time. This past June, she walked with the best for Christian Dior and Prada's resort shows. Then photogs Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin (who regularly work with Daria Werbowy and Natasha Poly) picked up Eniko for Gucci's fall ad campaign. And that's just the beginning — we hear she's featured in next month's French Vogue and just about every other blue-chip magazine. So she shouldn't be too hard to miss from now on. —James Lim

Model Profile: Eniko Mihalik

For all your model-watching needs, check out our Model Manual, where you can keep tabs on all the pretty people.

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 7:05 pm

Why some people don't like Katherine Heigl

Read full story for latest details.

Source: CNN.com - Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 6:45 pm

Life As a Valkyrie Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be: Exclusive Graphic-Novel Excerpt

Sure, being a Valkyrie is great — you live on your own planet, you control all war and conflict among the human race, you get to have sex with Cochise the Apache chief. But sometimes a girl just needs to get away, you know? Lauren R. Weinstein's new graphic novel is a wild and fanciful vision of the day the goddess of war decides to take a personal day. The deluxe, oversize paperback of The Goddess of War — filled with both clever line drawings and gorgeous etchings — comes out in August from Picturebox.

The Goddess of War, by Lauren R. Weinstein

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 6:45 pm

Jason Pomeranc to Take Credit for Turning Lower East Side Into Meatpacking District

REAL ESTATE
• Does hotelier Jason Pomeranc need an ego check? He thinks the opening of his new Thompson Lower East Side hotel, which is slated to happen soon, is "going to be a moment in time that will be remembered as kind of when the Lower East Side came of age." [NYO]
• Recession? What recession? Apartments around the city, such as ones in the Plaza and the Waldorf, are being rented out for $75,000 per month. [NYO]
• The Christian Scientist Church on Park Avenue subpoenaed neighboring co-op boards for documents revealing information about the social lives of the apartments' residents. The court, however, says the boards don't have to turn over the legal papers. [NYS]

FINANCE
• Finally, a good day on Wall Street: Stocks rallied because of banks purging toxic paper, oil prices sliding lower, and the dollar getting stronger. [NYP]
• Lone Star Funds agreed to pay $6.7 billion for Merrill Lynch's mortgage-linked investments, which have been valued at around $31 billion. [WSJ]
• Steven Rattner, who was the chairman of Credit Suisse's private-equity arm for twenty years, stepped down to spend more time with his family. [Bloomberg]

MEDIA
• "It's difficult not to see McCain's point that Obama has generally been getting not only more positive press but quantitatively more press, period," said Jake Tapper, the senior national correspondent for ABC News. "That just seems empirically true. But it is a bit like Britney Spears complaining that Miley Cyrus gets more publicity than her talent warrants." [NYO]
• The New York Times ran an article about BlogHer, an annual conference about the feminine blogosphere, much to the dismay of, well, female bloggers, who complained the piece was "published in the 'Styles' section, the section of the paper reserved for trend pieces, drink recipes, society photos, and wedding announcements. In other words, the girl part of the paper." [Salon]
• People's Obama cover underperformed on the newsstand, selling just 1.3 million copies, compared to the tabloid's usual sales of 1.4 million to 1.5 million copies. The mag did move more than Us Weekly's Obama cover, however, which sold 1 million issues. [Jossip]

LAW
• Sean Connery's lawyer is getting involved in the war over the repairs at the actor's East 71st Street townhouse. [NYP]
• Cadwalader is laying off 96 lawyers in its New York, Charlotte, London, and Washington offices. The cuts will come out of the real-estate, finance, and securitization practices. [WSJ]
• Governor Paterson signed a bill saying that New York will abandon its rule allowing personal-injury or wrongful-death insurers to disclaim coverage due to a late notice of claim. "It was anomalous for so long that New York would allow denial of coverage for claims considered late by insurance companies," said attorney Marshall Gilinsky of Anderson Kill & Olick. "We always thought of it here as a trapdoor, as a 'gotcha' defense." [Law.com]

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

dressed to make a killing

A new study shows that employees who dress well are more likely to be promoted than their shabbily attired co-workers. Style.com had similar findings a few weeks back when we delved into the wild and wooly world of summer interns. All right, girls, that corner office you've been coveting is only a couple of pairs of Louboutins away. You've gotta spend money to make money, people.

Lance Armstrong's Tour de Kate Hudson has come to an amicable end. The cyclist and the movie star have reportedly called it quits, due to conflicting schedules/personalities. Summer romances, never easy.

—Evelyn Crowley

Photo: Courtesy of the Everett Collection

Source: The Style File | 30 Jul 2008 | 6:28 pm

Eastpak (Yes, Eastpak) Is Back on Our Radar

Eastpak's Spring 2009 collection, as shown at Berlin Fashion Week.Photo: Courtesy of Eastpak

Eastpak hasn't been at the top of our fashion radar since we were 7 and determined to have the most bitchin' backpack on the block for the first day of first grade. But when Eastpak showed its spring '09 line at Berlin Fashion Week earlier this month, we did a double take. The nylon hoodies, printed zip-ups, and neon-streaked tees didn't look like they should be confined to the woods or elementary schools. The stuff was far too eye-catching and sleek for that.

The show proved the label is trying to be something more than a sporting-goods store brand. And they're succeeding on and off the runway. Prior to the successful showing in Berlin, Eastpak arranged two collaborations (a fantastic way to cash in on streetwear's favorite meme) with major high-fashion designers. We learned a few weeks ago they tapped Eley Kishimoto to do a capsule collection for spring 2009, full of backpacks and messenger bags plastered with jagged-edge swirls in blue, red, or black colorways. Before that the brand partnered with Raf Simons, who designed a capsule collection for the spring '08 collection. Two designer collaborations in less than a year? Watch out, Puma. Collections that makes us want to feel that cool Eastpak nylon on our backs again? Watch out, world. —Sharon Clott

Photo: Courtesy of Eastpak

Photo: Courtesy of Eastpak

Eastpak S/S09 [Highsnobette]

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 6:15 pm

Even Fergie Tired of Her Singing

Photo: Getty Images

"I'm just thrilled I get to play a character. I'm singing, but I'm not singing as myself. I'm going to be singing as a character, and that's what's really exciting to me." —Fergie, excited about breaking into Hollywood with a role as a prostitute in the big-screen adaptation of Nine [AP via Yahoo]

"My fans seem to be confused when the outside world appreciates our work, so I can only imagine this terrifies them." —Billy Corgan on Smashing Pumpkins' "The Beginning Is the End is the Beginning" being featured in the Watchmen trailer [Soundboard/LAT]

"Dolly is like the nicest person ever. On our set, from people that clean our dressing rooms at night to the top producers, she gave them hats and signed every one of them. It was like 500 hats!" —Miley Cyrus on the many hats of Dolly Parton [E!]

"It seemed like a wonderful way to spend 12 hours a day, five days a week for $150 a day ... nonunion, no benefits … Hollywood, baby!" —Jon Hamm on being a set dresser for a soft-core-porn film [Best Life via USAT]

"What does he mean to me? He means sex." —Duffy on fellow Welshman Tom Jones [Star Tribune via PopMatters]

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 6:00 pm

Who’ll Save New York? Paterson’s Possible Super-Friends

"Help!"Photo: Getty Images

Governor Paterson sat alone when he confessed the state's miserable financial condition yesterday, but he can't begin to fix the mess that way. Who really thinks the hog-tied State Legislature will solve the problem it created? The speech served as a Bat signal to stir powerful New Yorkers who can put the governor's urgent message into play. We've compiled a short list of possible super-friends. None of these folks seems at first blush likely to enter the putrid Albany scene, but that's partly why Paterson took the lead with preemptive budget cuts and staff freezes — and as recent history shows, when a gigantic operation needs a bailout, a few potentates come together to set it in motion.

Chuck Schumer can sneak a consumer subsidy for home-heating oil (which Paterson stressed again and again in the five-minute speech) into a federal spending bill.

Hillary Clinton can deliver some palliative money upstate.

Hank Paulson used to run the only Wall Street bank that's still paying hefty taxes (thanks to hefty profits), and he seems merry about extending federal credit these days.

Dan Doctoroff made an economic engine of the public-private partnerships Paterson said could supplant colonies of state authorities. Doctoroff has his hands full running Bloomberg LP, but we've seen that he can usually muster the energy to serve on a public-private board in his spare time.

Douglas Durst is a model developer for public-private partnerships. While Bruce Ratner probably has his calendar full with bended-knee visits to potential lenders and tenants, and other powerful developers are terrified about paying back existing loans, the civic-minded Durst is doing well enough — he can lean on a solid base of busy buildings — to step up.

Jerry Speyer, meanwhile, having extricated himself from the messy MTA family by deciding not to build at Hudson Yards, can similarly administer some tough love. —Alec Appelbaum

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 30 Jul 2008 | 5:55 pm

artists as homemakers

As the world housing market falters, the British phrase "safe as houses" sounds more and more ominous. But as London's Karsten Schubert gallery demonstrates in its exhibition of the same name, houses are still solid and insightful sources of artistic inspiration. Included in the show of six leading contemporary artists are images of "House" by Rachel Whiteread, whose cast of the interior of the last terrace house in London's East End, "House," sparked recent controversy over the rightful purview of public art. Also in the show are haunting black-and-white photographs of the weathered exteriors of simple suburban houses by Bernd and Hilla Becher. Nearby, Richard Wentworth's iconic images of claptrap boxes and crates make even the most depressing house appear snug. While none of the structures on view seem particularly appealing as potential domiciles, all the art itself would be a safe bet for adding real value to anybody's home.

—Ana Finel Honigman

Photo: Richard Wentworth, "Small Thrall," 1988, courtesy of Karsten Schubert

Source: The Style File | 30 Jul 2008 | 5:49 pm

Hedi Slimane Personally Ensures That Texas Is Cool

Slimane's Untitled, 2005: It consists of fifteen large panels, and they're all going to be in Dallas.Photo courtesy of Friedman PR

It's not often we curse New York for not being cool enough. It's even less likely we'd ever think, We wish we were in Dallas right now. But leave it to Hedi Slimane to make us want to hit the Lone Star State. Yes, our dream crush is going to the land where the hair, cars, and steaks are bigger, better, and badder than anything we've ever seen. Hedi's photography is showing at the Light & Sie gallery, and he's going to physically be there tomorrow, July 31. It's not too late to buy tickets — we're actually debating it — just for a chance to be in the same airspace as a demigod. And, just to make us stomp our feet and lament even more, our very own tastemaker Jeremy Kost is joining him, showing his Objectification series. Oh, did we mention Vanessa Beecroft is also displaying? Yeah, thanks for making us feel left out, Dallas.

For those of you who just happen to be cruising through the Lone Star State, the show runs through mid-September. —Amina Akhtar

Light & Sie, 129 Leslie St., Dallas; 214)-745-2255.

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 5:35 pm

Will David Carr’s ‘The Night of the Gun’ Redeem the Memoir?

Photo: Courtesy of Simon & Schuster; Patrick McMullan

So says the Observer's Leon Neyfakh, who more or less reviews the book in his "Pub Crawl" column today. Carr's memoir of his drug addiction and recovery, which comes out in August from Simon & Schuster, takes a different approach to telling a personal history than most memoirs. Refusing to trust his own memory of events that occurred when he was drunk, high, or drunk and high, Carr re-reports his own story, interviewing friends, family, and acquaintances from his darkest days in Minneapolis. "After years of abuse," Neyfakh writes, "the memoir has found its white knight, galloping in to show how a personal story can be engrossing, shocking and true."

But for all its pleasures, The Night of the Gun is not a particularly artful book. It's not meant to be, and is in fact an argument against art — or at least artifice — in the memoir. It's as much about process as it is about story, as Carr picks apart his own history through interview after interview, even questioning himself (as in the section, for example, when he asks himself why he's adding water to the poisoned well of the addiction memoir). And so The Night of the Gun succeeds, as Neyfakh notes, in telling a personal story in a way that assures you quite effectively that it's not full of lies.

But if we're holding David Carr up as the writer who will save the memoir, are we going to demand that his method be followed by every memoirist from now on? What about a writer who — like 99 percent of writers out there — is not as good a reporter as David Carr? What about ones who can't question the figures from their past, because they're dead, or dangerous, or disappeared? Just because a memoir isn't scrupulously accurate doesn't mean it's complete bullshit; there's a vast gulf between David Carr and, say, Margaret B. Jones, and a lot of fucking great books live there. Do we believe every word of The Liars' Club? Not really. Do we wish Mary Karr had written a book about her exhaustive research to get to the bottom of her own childhood? Hell no.

We really like The Year of the Gun. We're glad that it will create another discussion about the role of truth in the memoir. But we hope that it doesn't cause publishers to demand that every memoir come packed in detailed notes about the story's accuracy. In the hands of writers less skilled than David Carr, reporting is nitpicky and boring. (That's why we try not to do it.) And no offense to David Carr, but we love the memoirs best that artfully exploit the uncertainty of memory — not ruthlessly (and admirably) expose it.

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 5:15 pm

'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince' Trailer Released

The trailer for the sixth Harry Potter film has been released, offering a sneak peek at "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."
Source: FOXNews.com | 30 Jul 2008 | 4:57 pm

No. 1 singer's big green business machine

Don't let Jack Johnson fool you. The singer-songwriter may seem like the definition of "laid-back," but ask him about his record label or his believe in the environment and you'll get an earful.

Source: CNN.com - Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 4:39 pm

Smokin'! Cheech and Chong reunite

Read full story for latest details.

Source: CNN.com - Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 4:34 pm

If Ben Silverman Gets Fired, the Terrorists Will Have Won

Photo: Getty Images

Oh dear Lord in heaven, please don't let it be true! According to "Page Six," NBC Entertainment co-chairman and Vulture hero Ben Silverman could lose his job if his network's fall lineup doesn't deliver better ratings. "If the fall is as bad as the summer, someone will have to take the blame, and it won't be Jeff Zucker," said one "network insider," who's probably just upset he didn't receive an invitation to Silverman's upcoming August 15 birthday party (we bet it'll be awesome).

Who cares if viewers haven't taken to Celebrity Circus, Baby Borrowers, Nashville Star, and American Gladiators this summer — the guy's just getting warmed up! This fall sees the debut of Silverman's Knight Rider remake, plus My Own Worst Enemy (a show on which Christian Slater plays a suburban dad and an CIA agent living in the same body) and Kath and Kim (a U.S. version of an Australian sitcom, starring Molly Shannon and Selma Blair), any of which could easily turn into the next Seinfeld!

"Silverman was an agent," says a "honcho at a rival network" who is almost certainly Steve McPherson from ABC. "He has an eye for programming. He's good at spotting a hit and buying it, but that's different from being a producer and creating a hit." Lest he need reminding, though, Silverman is still hard at work on his upcoming megahit soap opera Without Breasts There Is No Paradise, which is probably why, as the Post notes, he's been canceling meetings and not returning phone calls.

NBC BOSS' 'FALL' FROM GRACE [NYP]

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 30 Jul 2008 | 4:30 pm

French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Denies '30 Lovers'

French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy denies she has had 30 lovers, despite shocking fans by referring to them in her recently released album.
Source: FOXNews.com | 30 Jul 2008 | 4:15 pm

Christian Thielemann

With German star conductor Christian Thielemann, seen here in 2005, in the pit for the Bayreuth Festival's current "Ring" cycle, it doesn't matter that there's nothing much going on onstage: you can simply...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 30 Jul 2008 | 4:06 pm

Eva-Marie Westbroek

Eva-Maria Westbroek is pictured during a 2007 rehearsal. Westbroek was praised for her turn as Sieglinde in "The Valkyrie" at the Bayreuth Festival.
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 30 Jul 2008 | 4:06 pm

Participants of the World Cosplay Summit 2008

L-R: Participants of the World Cosplay Summit 2008 Jessica Moreira Rocha Campos and Gabriel Niemietz Braz of Brazil, Japanese actress Natsuki Kato and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Itsunori Onodera, Americans...
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 30 Jul 2008 | 4:06 pm

Pedestrians walks past the doors of the BBC's Bush House in London

Pedestrians walks past the doors of the BBC's Bush House in London. The BBC has been fined 400,000 pounds after a string of top television and radio shows faked winners of their competitions.
Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 30 Jul 2008 | 4:05 pm

online, pre-fab inspiration boards

Photographer Todd Selby has shot everyone from Dolly Parton to sunbathers in Central Park. Now he's documenting New York City personalities in their domestic glory—everyone from writer Tom Wolfe and his quilt of hats to artist Meryl Smith and her bear outfits—and offering them up on his new Web site, www.theselby.com. The effect is a series of home decor inspiration boards. "A person's home can tell you much more about their overall aesthetic than what you see when they're outside of their element, walking down the street," Selby says. He finishes each profile with a handwritten questionnaire that includes everything from the subject's favorite fruit to a Sharpie-drawn portrait of the shutterbug himself.

—Laurie Trott

Photo: Todd Selby

Source: The Style File | 30 Jul 2008 | 4:01 pm

yoga, the back story

Beth Ostrosky probably wasn't the only guest talking about the joy of back bends at last night's party at Pure Yoga on the Upper East Side. To celebrate the opening of the Asian health and fitness company's first American outpost, a more-limber-than-average crowd sipped "teatinis" and watched yoga models curl and uncurl at the new 86th Street space. Ostrosky, who has incorporated the ancient art into her training for the New York marathon, said she doesn't have a favorite type of yoga. "I like it all," she said, including hot-and-sweaty (and always potentially awkward) Bikram yoga. "It makes you look cool, when you come out and you're all wet," she explained. As waiters hoisting platters of tofu cakes shuffled by, she confessed that there IS one thing about yoga class that does make her self-conscious, though. "Whenever there are people behind me, I just think the whole time that they're looking at my big fat bum," she said. But she doesn't blame the yoga: "All women have issues with their bums."

—Darrell Hartman

Photo: Joe Schildhorn/PatrickMcMullan.com

Source: The Style File | 30 Jul 2008 | 3:18 pm

New Bond theme song to be duet

Read full story for latest details.

Source: CNN.com - Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 3:13 pm

Fergie 'Thrilled' to Be Hooker in New Movie

Grammy-winning singer cast in 'Nine' with Daniel Day-Lewis and Nicole Kidman.
Source: ABC News: Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 3:12 pm

Fergie Excited for Role as Prostitute in 'Nine'

Fergie is excited about adding the role of a prostitute to her acting portfolio.
Source: FOXNews.com | 30 Jul 2008 | 2:57 pm

Alicia Keys, Jack White Bond over Bond

The unlikely duo have recorded theme song for new Bond film 'Quantum of Solace.'
Source: ABC News: Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 2:52 pm

No Joke, Cops Take Gun From Jerry Lewis

The 82-year-old comedian claims the gun is a prop for his act.
Source: ABC News: Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 2:31 pm

It's Not Easy Being a Teenager

"American Teen" stars show high school isn't always like it seems on reality TV.
Source: ABC News: Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 2:29 pm

Cheech and Chong Reunite for First Comedy Tour in 25 Years

Now that their feud is up in smoke, Cheech and Chong are high on plans to reunite for their first comedy tour in more than 25 years.
Source: FOXNews.com | 30 Jul 2008 | 2:20 pm

The LaBeouf incident -- and his future

Read full story for latest details.

Source: CNN.com - Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 2:07 pm

free speech: hadley freeman looks into the great sjp gender divide

Last week's gossip that Matthew Broderick has been--sob!--unfaithful to the peerless Sarah Jessica Parker will strike a stab of horror in the hearts of all girls who either empathize perhaps a little too much with the travails of Carrie Bradshaw and/or used to fantasize that one day they would grow up to be Ferris Bueller's girlfriend, Sloane Peterson (i.e., pretty much every single woman in the Western world between the ages of 25 and 45.) Guys, on the other hand, are gloating. I know because I spoke to plenty of them about it this weekend—the mere fact that I have no idea about the veracity of this story naturally hasn't stopped me from discussing it with every man, woman, and (OK, not) child that I've run into lately. And while I try to avoid gender generalizations, I've been left wondering—just what do men have against Sarah Jessica Parker?

Every woman with whom I discussed this scurrilous rumor made the appropriate "Oh, my God, that's awful, what a rat" noises. Every man, however, sniggered something along the lines of "I don't blame him, his wife is totally fuggers." It's another symptom of the male antipathy to SJP that has been building up, with increasing viciousness, for some time (remember when Maxim magazine cruelly dubbed her the unsexiest woman in the world?). But this attitude actually says more about men than it does about the object of their disaffection.

See, here's the thing about Sarah Jessica: She is a woman's woman. She does not dress in an overtly sexy manner, i.e., to please men. Instead, she dresses in a way that will appeal to people who follow fashion, i.e., mainly women. This does not mean that she wears humpback dresses made of animal skin or what have you; rather, it means she favors fun over bland. The ensemble she chose to attend the recent MTV awards—a long-sleeve minidress by L'Wren Scott with white lace-up boots—is a case in point. By no stretch of the imagination is this an ugly outfit, but it's not one most meat-and-potatoes guys would find sexy. Yes, her legs are out, but otherwise she's covered up to her neck (hot tip, ladies: most guys prefer to see the top half over the bottom half. At least in public.) Then there's the fact that her minidress has long sleeves. To women, this makes it a fun party dress that will, hallelujah, keep them relatively warm. To men, it's an unfortunate rehash of the eighties. Finally, the white ankle boots, which very definitely called attention to themselves (so fabulously ice skater-ish, right, ladies?). Men do not like statement shoes. To them, what's the point? Shoes are there to hoick you up so your boobs and your butt stick out; they are not there to draw attention to themselves. For heaven's sake, why didn't SJP wear a long dress with a plunging neckline and gold stilettos like every other actress at an awards ceremony?



Men might claim a hundred other reasons for their antipathy to the lady: They didn't like the show (fair enough, but I never heard Calista Flockhart, a.k.a. Ally McBeal, get lumbered with the vitriol SJP does); she's too thin (ditto); she's over 35 but doesn't dress like a Golden Girl—God strike the woman down! Fine, she may not have the blandly pretty looks of Jessica Alba/Biel/Whomever, but for heaven's sake, she's never presented herself or been held up as some beauty icon, so it hardly seems fair to criticize her on that score. Thus, one is left with the conclusion that the reason men don't like her is because she dresses for herself rather than for them. Awww, poor babies—feeling neglected, are we? Frankly, if the stories about her husband's behavior are true, then I'd say she was right all along in not giving a damn about what his gender has to say.

—Hadley Freeman

Photo: Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic

Source: The Style File | 30 Jul 2008 | 1:55 pm

Report: Chinese Earthquake Victims Demand $1B From Stone

More than 1,000 Chinese earthquake victims and a New York lawyer are demanding a $1 billion payout from Sharon Stone — or maybe just an apology, the New York Post reports.
Source: FOXNews.com | 30 Jul 2008 | 1:53 pm

Reports: Kate Hudson, Lance Armstrong Break Up

Kate Hudson and Lance Armstrong called it quits this weekend, according to reports.
Source: FOXNews.com | 30 Jul 2008 | 1:51 pm

the brazilian: now sorting out the hair on your head

The South American beauty treatment commonly associated with an unruly bikini line (and about half an hour of eye-watering pain) has been given a new connotation by the Nelson J. Salon in Beverly Hills. Utilizing the legendary power of the açai berry—native to the Amazon region but now making frequent appearances at a juice bar near you—salon owner and celebrity colorist Nelson Chan's Natural Brazilian Hair Treatment has become a fast favorite with Southern California's dried-out and over-dyed masses. The lavish conditioning treatment, which contains shea butter and açai oil rich in vitamins, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and fiber, is massaged into the hair and scalp for 20 minutes, leaving a silky finish that lasts up to three weeks. To take the experience to multi-sensory levels, Chan has also created the Nelson J. Açai Elixir, containing MonaVie's açai berry juice blend—a post-treatment treat that is far superior to the redness and skin irritation of the other Brazilian. Nelson J. Salon's Natural Brazilian Hair Treatment, $50, including massage with an optional blow-out for an additional $45, www.nelsonjbeauty.com.

—Celia Ellenberg

Photo: Courtesy of Nelson J. Salon

Source: The Style File | 30 Jul 2008 | 1:47 pm

Fergie excited to play a prostitute

Read full story for latest details.

Source: CNN.com - Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 1:07 pm

Eckhart Fights Though Ledger & Bale Buzz

Despite his co-stars, there's no ignoring Aaron Eckhart in "Dark Knight."
Source: ABC News: Entertainment | 30 Jul 2008 | 12:21 pm

Mayer Pal: Jennifer Aniston 'Fits Right In' With Tour

Jennifer Aniston "fits right in" with the crew and musicians on John Mayer's tour, a friend of the rocker tells People.
Source: FOXNews.com | 30 Jul 2008 | 11:15 am

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