Did the Beijing Opening Ceremony Finally Make Opening Ceremonies Cool Again?

What was your favorite part of the ceremony? The glowing, twinkling Olympic rings peeling off the floor and rising up, magically, into the air? The 147-meter-long LED screen that unrolled in the middle of the stadium? The drummers with the awesome red glowsticks? The incredible wood blocks that undulated like waves, sprouted flowers, and then popped open to reveal people underneath? The 2,008 glowing t'ai chi dudes? The taikonauts? The enormous globe with people somehow running on it upside down? Li Ning floating through the air to light the torch? The jaw-dropping fireworks, which turned the Bird's Nest stadium into another addition to our Scariest Vaginas of History list?

It just goes to show you that when you give one of the century's great cinematic geniuses, Zhang Yimou, millions and millions of dollars, and put him in charge of 15,000 performers raised in a totalitarian society, you can really make something magical. ("Well, we have the people," Zhang shrugged when asked about the staggering population of the ceremony.) We were even impressed with NBC's coverage, which mixed decent commentary from Matt Lauer and Bob Costas with actual insightful thoughts from NBC's China analyst Joshua Cooper Ramo. Even Lang Lang's outfit was just as good as advertised!

The ball's in your court, London! Better start gluing sequins to Posh's gown now.

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 11 Aug 2008 | 3:30 pm

Random Freak-out Over Ralph Lauren’s Olympic Uniforms

While we spent our Friday night with eyes glazed over, mesmerized by the spectacle that is the Olympics (so many colors!), others were taking issue with the uniforms Ralph Lauren designed for U.S. team members to wear during the opening ceremony. The American Politics Journal has its manties in a bunch because, in its opinion, the little white horse on the jackets was too big (too big!) and distracted from the Olympic logo. They accused Lauren of "morphing our athletes into unpaid billboards for the 'Polo' pony and rider."

The APJ further argues that the Olympics should be purely a sporting event and that they're "not a place for blundering materialism." They sniff: "I propose that along with drug testing labs, we have logo-testing experts who make certain the logos are hidden." (Try telling that to Coca-Cola.)

Personally, we thought the American athletes looked kind of nice, a little Gatsby, but hey! We would've thought the 2,008 drummers, the thousands of little Chinese men in those boxes — or, you know, the man in the space suit — would have visually distracted from the silly rings, but if you want to put the blame on a pony shirt, okay. —Noelle Hancock

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 11 Aug 2008 | 3:30 pm

Pop Tarts: Shocked Stars Mourn Bernie Mac's Sudden Death

Tinseltown was a sad place on Saturday as Hollywood's "Original King of Comedy" Bernie Mac passed away.
Source: FOXNews.com | 11 Aug 2008 | 3:24 pm

Jake Gyllenhaal Once Peed on Someone’s Leg

Cindy Adams has a rundown of how celebs spent their summers as teenagers. (Jake Gyllenhaal was a lifeguard in Martha's Vineyard, where he once peed on someone's leg to counteract the sting left by a jellyfish.) Alex Rodriguez donated "at least $500,000" to Madonna's Raising Malawi charity. Alleged lesbians Tila Tequila and Courtenay Semel gave each other lap dances at an L.A. club. The Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr., who is engaged to Agyness Deyn, is selling his East Village co-op and moving to Brooklyn. Evin Cosby, Bill and Camille Cosby's youngest daughter, said that she relates to Barack Obama because she went to school with a bunch of rich white people.

Princess Michael of Kent, a.k.a. Princess Pushy, is annoyed at David Patrick Columbia after he reported that her 66-year-old husband is having an affair with a much-younger Danish woman. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band are set to play at halftime of next year's Super Bowl. Us Weekly editor Janice Min said that obese women don't read her magazine. WWE champ John Cena was "mobbed" by fans at Wildwood Barbeque on Park Avenue South. Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson stormed out of Macaluso's in Miami after a staffer asked them to pose for photos in the kitchen. An employee at Soho House prematurely kicked out guests at a M&C Saatchi party. Mena Suvari didn't want to wear Diane Von Furstenberg to a Warhol party she was hosting because all the dresses she was sent were too see-through. Chris Noth ate Kobe beef with his Plumm partner Noel Ashman at Nobu 57. Calvin Klein, David Geffen, and Sandy Gallin hung out near the wood-burning stove at Nick & Toni's in East Hampton during a recent rain- and hailstorm. Julia Stiles and Jonathan Kramer, her artist boyfriend of two years, have split over "irreconcilable differences."

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 11 Aug 2008 | 2:45 pm

Jill Stuart Launches Diffusion Line in Tokyo; Gap Cuts European Design Team

• Jill Stuart is launching a diffusion line and retail space to match in Tokyo, where she has a "cult-like following." Jill by Jill Stuart the store opened on Saturday; the line is more basic than her main collection and about 35 percent less expensive. [WWD]

•Gap has decided to cut out its European design team and return to importing American ranges into Europe. Bad news for us American fans of the European collections, but good news for the Europeans, where there's been an increased demand for the U.S. collections. Grass is always greener... [British Vogue]

•Agent Provocateur is planning a global takeover, with two new U.S. boutiques in Boston and Chicago as well as recently opened spaces in Bahrain, Geneva, and Puerto Barres. [WWD]

• The honorees for the Femmy Awards — celebrating the intimate-apparel industry's finest — have been announced: Retailer of the year goes to Nordstrom, and Innovation Award will go to the founder of Spanx, Sara Blakely. [WWD]

• Christian Louboutin will not be designing a clothing line any time soon. "Not interested," says the designer. "There are so many good designers, so why would I put my name on clothes when I never wanted to do it?" To which we ask, why can't they all be like you? [British Vogue]

• Mena Suvari was sent Diane Von Furstenberg dresses to wear when she hosted Andy Warhol's 80th birthday celebration, but ran to alice+olivia instead because the DVF dresses were too sheer and she wanted to wear "something more mod." [NYP]

Source: The Cut - New York Magazine's Fashion Blog | 11 Aug 2008 | 2:45 pm

Can Angry Disabled Groups Help ‘The Dark Knight’ Stay Alive at the Box Office?

Over the weekend, to no one's great surprise, The Dark Knight steamrolled Pineapple Express to top the box office for a fourth straight time, bringing its overall take to $441.5 million and making it the third highest domestic grossing movie in history. But while many suspected Pineapple might be vulnerable, pretty much everyone thinks that this Friday's tirelessly marketed Tropic Thunder will be the film that finally knocks Batman into second place. Everyone, that is, except for the disabled.

Following last week's kerfuffle over Thunder's subplot involving fake movie Simple Jack (in which Ben Stiller's actor character plays a dolt), a coalition of disabilities groups is calling for a boycott of the film over its use of the word "retard." "Not only might it happen, it will happen," says Special Olympics chairman Timothy Shriver to the Times about the expected campaign. Shriver is also calling on Congress to pass a resolution condemning Thunder and its "hate speech."

In a statement released yesterday, a DreamWorks spokesman called Thunder "an R-rated comedy that satirizes Hollywood and its excesses and makes its point by featuring inappropriate and over-the-top characters in ridiculous situations," stressing that "no changes or cuts to the film will be made" (though, as we noted last week, they seem to have backed off the R-word in its marketing). The movie seemed to have been begging for a controversy (it also features, of course, a blackfaced Robert Downey Jr.), but, as the Times notes this morning, large-scale boycotts are somewhat rare and if this one actually comes off, it won't spell good things for Tropic Thunder's earning potential. All of which is to say that this is potentially great news for The Dark Knight's continued box-office dominance. Watch out, Titanic!

Nationwide ‘Thunder’ Boycott in the Works [NYT]
'Dark Knight' on top for 4th week [Variety]

Earlier: ‘Tropic Thunder’ Abandoning ‘Simple Jack’?

Source: Vulture -- Entertainment, Music, Culture, Theater, Movies, Art -- New York Magazine Blog | 11 Aug 2008 | 2:45 pm

Report: Hayden Panettierre's Father Arrested

"Heroes" actress Hayden Panettiere's father was arrested Monday for allegedly battering his wife, Panettiere's mother, law enforcement sources told TMZ.
Source: FOXNews.com | 11 Aug 2008 | 2:35 pm

Turns Out John Edwards Isn’t the Only Person With a Crazy Rielle Hunter Story

Over the weekend, the mainstream media was filled with self-flagellation over their staunch refusal to write about John Edwards's rumored affair with Rielle Hunter for nearly a year after the story originally surfaced online and in the National Enquirer. But it turns out, when the floodgates opened on Friday after Edwards's admission of the infidelity, journalists had a lot to say. Why? Because some of them knew Rielle. And they could have totally seen the whole thing coming, because she basically told them that she was going to have an affair with a rich and powerful man.

In Newsweek, writer Jonathan Darman recounts his experiences with the kooky Hunter, whom he covered early in the Edwards presidential campaign as she made documentary shorts about the candidate. "The first time I laid eyes on Rielle Hunter, I could tell she was a story," he writes. "She was on a cramped commuter flight and she was flirting with a candidate for president of the United States."

From Newsweek:

[She] began telling me her life story: how she was working as a documentary-film maker, living with a friend in South Orange, N.J., but how she'd previously had "many lives." She'd worked, she said, as an actress and as a spiritual adviser. She was fiercely devoted to astrology and New Age spirituality. She'd been a New York party girl, she'd been married and divorced, she'd been a seeker and a teacher and was a firm believer in the power of truth. She told me that she had met Edwards at a bar, at the Regency Hotel in New York. She thought he was giving off a special "energy."

Hunter went on to develop a friendship with Darman, until the subject of their conversations turned to her relationship with Edwards, at which point she cooled to him. But she had already told him about how she believed John Edwards had "the power to change the world," but his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, "does not give off good energy. She didn't make eye contact with me." She also said she was working on a TV-show idea with her ex-boyfriend Jay McInerney about "women who help men get out of failing marriages by having affairs with them."

In the Los Angeles Times, writer Sarah Miller has a similarly prescient encounter with Hunter. She describes an encounter at a friend's house:

Rielle came bounding up to me. Her eyes weren't just glowing. They were kind of spinning in her face. I am almost sure that she was not drunk: This was how she always looked.

Hunter also warned Miller of her plans, in a sideways fashion. "I am going to be famous. Rich and famous. I am going to meet a rich, powerful man," she explained. When Miller asked her how she was going to go about doing that, Hunter assured her: "I'm going to manifest it."

Well, when you put it that way, having an affair with a married man whose wife has incurable cancer almost does sound spiritual.

Edwards' Affair? My Fault [LAT]
What Rielle Hunter Told Me [Newsweek]
Earlier: Edwards Admits to Affair

Source: Daily Intelligencer - New York Magazine | 11 Aug 2008 | 2:27 pm

Isaac Hayes' History With Scientology

My friend, Isaac Hayes, died on Sunday, and his passing leaves many unanswered questions.
Source: FOXNews.com | 11 Aug 2008 | 2:22 pm

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer - School Library Journal

MTV.com

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer School Library Journal - 32 minutes ago Gr 9 Up–Meyer closes her epic love story of a human, a vampire, and a werewolf in this, the final installment of the “Twilight” saga. Book Review: Breaking Dawn Entertainment Weekly Blockbuster book series may help the bottom line for Borders Crain's Detroit Business MTV.com - AHN - Rolling Stone - Publishers Weekly all 57 news articles

Source: Google News - Entertainment | 11 Aug 2008 | 2:20 pm

Soul legend Isaac Hayes dies

Soul singer and arranger Isaac Hayes, who won Grammy awards and an Oscar for the theme from the 1971 action film "Shaft," has died, sheriff's officials in Memphis, Tennessee, reported Sunday.