The bisexual MTV reality star was out and about with new gal pal Courtenay Semel, a socialite and former Lindsay Lohan friend, at Thursdays EA Sports/Xbox 360 premiere of Madden NFL 09 in Los Angeles. Source: FOXNews.com | 12 Aug 2008 | 1:34 pm
Vanessa Hudgens has become one of the most in-demand starlets in Hollywood, and now the man who professes to have discovered her wants a piece of her pie. Source: FOXNews.com | 12 Aug 2008 | 1:19 pm
An actor who appeared in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" has been arrested in connection with an attack on his former girlfriend in which she was stabbed more than 20 times and critically wounded, authorities said Tuesday. Source: FOXNews.com | 12 Aug 2008 | 1:08 pm
Mariah Carey told me on Saturday night she does one thing very well. What is it? 'Dance.' What about singing? 'Oh, thats business,' she said with a laugh. Source: FOXNews.com | 12 Aug 2008 | 12:54 pm
Think you did a lot last weekend? Had you been in the vicinity of New York's Opening Cermemony store, you could've shopped 'til you dropped, played midnight Scrabble and sunrise karaoke, chilled to some dusk yoga, had your palm read at any hour of the night, or received a tattoo of any number of Olympic-themed symbols. (We hear that the five rings, a la swimmer Michael Phelps, who's already won two gold medals at the Beijing games, was a big hit). The activities kicked off on Friday night to coincide with—duh!—the Olympics' Opening Ceremony. "We had to do something," said shop owner Humberto Leon, adding that a three-day retail fest seemed most appropriate. (And how!) Also taking part in the festivities was the civic-minded cheering squad Cheer New York. The red-white-and blue-clad cheerleaders, who donate all of their proceeds to LGBT charities in the metropolitan area, performed outside the store at sunset and again throughout the night. Their big number? A shouting and clapping homage to Nike, which was one of the evening's sponsors. Said Greg, one of the cheerleaders, "Everyone here seems really nice, and they keep offering me drinks. Which isn't a good idea for us. At least not until we've finished holding people in the air."
They were subversive little stickers that parodied major consumer products. The Wacky Packages fad didn't last long -- a couple years in the early '70s -- but it's fondly remembered. A new book reproduces dozens of the cards.
Showtime's drug-dealing mom on "Weeds" will now take on another independent woman, Henrik Ibsen's iconoclastic heroine "Hedda Gabler." Mary-Louise Parker will star in the Roundabout... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 12 Aug 2008 | 11:35 am
Reuters - Presenting an
insect's-eye-view of the historic Apollo 11 space mission, "Fly
Me to the Moon" is an awkward mix of proficient 3-D animation,
detailed technical recreation and strained storytelling that
(Reuters) Reuters - One might think that a
revival of "Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical" would
The espionage thriller Edwin A. Salt, originally intended as a vehicle for Mission: Impossible hero Tom Cruise, is being rewritten for Angelina Jolie now that...
How do famous design houses manage to hook up celebrities with dresses than are often hideous? Shouldn't they know what looks hot and what doesn't?
— Ryan
Hot is...
Who says couples have to do everything together? (Besides tabloids and other judgmental types?)
Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer may not have been photographed together since July 27, but...
Vanessa Hudgens is having a lot of trouble losing her old entourage.
For the second time in the past 12 months, the High School Musical star has been sued by a former business associate...
Putting the more in Morocco, Jake Gyllenhaal gets all bulked up and "bear" chested for his role in the fantasy flick Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
Maybe the fantasy...
Britney Spears is proving day after day that she is well on her way to getting back to being the pop princess we all fell in love with not so long ago.
Check her out in one of the promos...
When it comes to shameless self-promotion, the more shameless, the better. Which is one of the many reasons we love Rainn Wilson.
Currently, the Rainn Mann is on an all-out assault...
Ben Stiller doesn't think it's necessary for anyone to boycott Tropic Thunder. And not just because he directed it.
"It's sort of edgy territory, but we felt that as long...
AP - A well-intentioned exercise at blending education and family entertainment, the 3-D animated tale "Fly Me to the Moon" ends up only mildly educational and not all that entertaining.
The third time is not the charm for Ed McMahon.
The former Tonight Show sidekick was hit with his third debt-related lawsuit of the summer today, this one filed by a SoCal lending firm...
We don't want to know what this photo means. Courtesy Harpers Bazaar
Harper's Bazaar has corralled the Ronsons together for a photo shoot reimagining the fam as the Royal Tenenbaums. It's all so utterly twee and precious — like all of Wes Anderson's films! Between Mark, Charlotte, and Samantha, the group has about ten different jobs (D.J.-ing, producing, co-hosting charity balls, designing clothes, Lindsay Lohan's walker, etc.). It seems that the one thing they can't do is find time to be in each other's presence.
"Not even on the high holiest of Jewish holidays do we all get together," Mark, 32, tells Bazaar. "But we get together individually whenever we can."
Samantha, 31, refuses to ante up tidbits on her relationship with Li-Lo. "I'm not going to talk about Lindsay because she's my friend, you know? She's great. She's also 22 years old. I think people forget that. With the Internet the way it is, one second we're enemies, one second we're best friends, one second we're lovers, and then we're broken up."
Charlotte, 31, adds: "When Samantha is walking around and all of the paparazzi are shooting her, I should have her wear a T-shirt that says, WEAR CHARLOTTE RONSON on the front. And on the back, it could say, AND LEAVE ME ALONE."
Fans of the film will either love the reenactment or be wildly offended. Choose your category now. —Noelle Hancock
Flushing: A new Buddhist temple opens here next year! Check it out. [Queens Chronicle] Gowanus: Whole Foods says that it will shortly announce a change in plans for its long-awaited store here. Could those changes have anything to do with the 31 percent net-income drop the company posted last quarter? [Brownstoner] Midtown: As part of the Summer Streets thing, which closes off certain streets to cars on Saturdays this summer, Park Avenue from Central Park to lower Manhattan was just for walkers and bikers this weekend, and the people had fun! Watch the video. [Streetsblog]
Park Slope: At least one Slopie thinks that the very upsetting incident of people having oral sex on the stairs of the 15th Street F-train station is due to poverty: "I dare say that you rarely find middle-class people having sex in public." Um, we clearly are not running in the same middle-class circles as you are. [Gowanus Lounge] Red Hook: A woman's dog was humping her leg, and she seemed to like it. Also, is the hood exploiting hapless Ikea rather than vice versa, which is how it was supposed to be? [Doree Chronicles] Williamsburg: The Sky Watch police crane has arrived to keep the neighborhood safe! You can see a lot of scruffles up there in that thing, so all you scruffles better be behavin', ya hear? Don't be stealing people's tight jeans shorts and white-framed sunglasses! [Williamsburg Is Dead]
As the Summer Olympics heat up, we can't help but wonder if Hollywood might make a biopic or two about some of Beijing's A-list athletes.
While it's kinda obvs Brad Pitt...
Remember how Tony Soprano took Meadow on that college trip, in the season-one episode "College"? And it was full of daddy-daughter bonding? Except for that whole strangling-the-rat-with-a-piano-wire bit, the one that spun the show on its moral axis? Well, last night's "skirt" scene — which happens around 1:10 in the video above — was Mad Men's first true Tony Soprano moment.
Spoilers ahoy!
Oh, sure, Matt Weiner (the show's creator, formerly a writer on The Sopranos) delivered some caustic twists last season — those horsey-riding games with models, a few dank glimpses down the marital well. But this scene, the one with Don Draper threatening/fingering an odious she-manager into submission, sent a message. You think this is escapism, lifestyle fun, Entourage with better suits? Wrong-o.
Your hero is a whore, pimping his pretty wife. That's his job, and he has to wash his mouth out, wipe his hand on the napkin — even for cable TV, that's some dirty, dirty stuff. If you had been lulled into thinking Don Draper was a good guy, and that Mad Men was a show about impeccable production design, last night's linchpin scene was a warning: Anything can happen. —Emily Nussbaum
She's not gonna let you sit at her lunch table, oh no.Courtesy of Dereon
Every once in a while, a story comes along that makes us think, "Do we have a tag for 'Duh' yet? Because we need one." This is one of those stories. According to the Guardian, a new poll has found that kids are ostracized for not wearing trendy clothing brands.
Oh wow, remember the old days when your placement in the social strata was determined by what you wore the first day of school? The "in" labels always varied depending on how old you were and where you grew up. Maybe for you it was Air Jordans and Jordache? For us, it was Guess jeans and Coach purses, and for guys, shirts by Tommy Hilfiger and Structure (remember them?). Every middle and high school had Those Brands that you just had to have or you'd risk being labeled a total tool, and apparently some things never change. Reports the Guardian:
Children who cannot afford the latest brands and fashions face bullying or exclusion by their peers, teachers warned yesterday. A desire to fit in plays a huge role in the products children want to own, a poll by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) found. Almost half of the teachers questioned said young people who cannot afford the fashionable items owned by their friends have been excluded, isolated or bullied as a result.
(Who are these "friends"? Do they, by any chance, grow up to work at Condé Nast?)
The poll found 93 percent of teachers saying brands are the top influence on what children buy. The influence of advertising and marketing is much more significant now, with more than 70 percent of teachers saying it has increased from ten years ago. Dr. Mary Bousted, ATL general secretary said: "Bullying of this kind can be quite insidious: it can just be a look that a child is given. Children feel under immense pressure to look right and having the key brands is part of that."
These types of polls are always cited in arguments in favor of school uniforms. But if you ask us, some kids are just cruel little jerks by nature. If you have uniforms, they'll just find something else to make fun of — like your face — so maybe it's better to let them take their aggression out on clothes and then they'll leave the rest of you alone. Sort of like giving your puppy a chew toy so he won't gnaw as much on the things that really matter. —Noelle Hancock
Last week, Jody Rosen over at Slate wrote a somewhat epic column about his recent discovery that much of his work, and the work of other writers, has been plagiarized in the pages of The Bulletin, an alternative weekly in Texas, by a writer called Mark Williams. Starting with a Jimmy Buffet profile that borrows unabashedly from his own, he uncovers Williams's weird paper trail of deceit by feverishly stalking each and every one of the writers' purloined phrases.
I found myself reading and rereading and rereading again, poring over "Spring Fling" like a Talmudist … was the prose surrounding my own actually Williams' work? I began to wonder. When the borrowings from my Slate essay end, four paragraphs from the bottom of the article, Williams makes a jarring genre shift from think-piece to celebrity profile, complete with boilerplate quotes from the singer himself. Did the Bulletin really interview Jimmy Buffett? I Googled a phrase from Williams' piece — "leaves the Parrotheads with this head scratcher" —"and the search returned two results: "Spring Fling" and a USA Today piece from July 8, 2004, "Buffett takes country out for a boat ride," written by Brian Mansfield.
When we first read this, we were kind of like, how weird of you, Jody Rosen, for obsessing about this as you did, as if we hadn't spent like ten hours just last week on the far weirder and more pointless task of Googling people from high school. But, obviously, we saw his point and thought that the Bulletin's publisher, a man by the name of Mike Ladyman, and his writer Mark Williams, would be duly shamed by Rosen's rather open-and-shut case against them.
But no!
True, Ladyman did shut down his paper in the wake of Rosen's piece. But not because he thinks it's his fault. Rather, he claims, it was Rosen who acted unfairly. After all, he told the Houston Press, they were the little guy:
It is a low-budget publication. Or was. It’s no longer a publication. I’m quitting. After this Slate article and this is the future of journalism in New York City. I don’t want any part of it.
Better yet is the statement Ladyman passed on from Williams, whom the publicist swears exists — although no one involved has actually heard from him directly — and who is full of righteous venom and is, actually, quite eloquent, assuming he wrote this himself:
It must have taken years of seasoned investigative know-how to push me off my lofty perch. It takes a dogged, intrepid journalist to expose the alleged wrongdoings of a 44-year-old college dropout who drifted from one lousy media job to another for 20 years; it takes courage to debase someone with a mouthful of cut-rate dentures who, up until 2007, lived in his parents’ home for seven years due to near-fatal bouts of clinical depression; it takes a journalist of a certain caliber to torpedo a pathetic hack who has barely squeezed out a living for nearly a decade at seven cents a word … So there it is, Mr. Rosen — congratulations on breaking an already fragile soul. In the end, I’m not sure what the point of all of this truly is, other than some sort of small dully colored feather in your journalistic cap. We bow to you, Mr. Rosen — to your talent, to your humanity, to all that is you.
Wow. We're sure that hit Rosen right where it was supposed to. After all, exposing a serial plagiarist is one thing — but he might have thought twice if he knew he was toothless.
Clothing designers work alongside architects and graphic designers at 5 in 1. Photo: Norman Rabinovich
New York is home to Fashion Co-op-land, a sect of stores that offer emerging designers a place to sell their up-and-coming collections. We've kept a watchful eye on the offerings at six of these, and each store's stock has something different to offer eclectic shoppers. The Dressing Room features half of an old-fashioned bar for decoration, the Love Brigade Co-op will have an end-of-summer sale in two weeks, and 5 in 1 houses H. Fredriksson dresses and cocktail rings by Made Her Think. Plus, you can find only the eco-friendliest items at Ekovaruhuset (House of Organics), art openings at the Brooklyn Collective, and crafty jewelry designs at Urban Alchemist. And it doesn't stop there. Click here to take an extended tour of the city's best fashion co-ops. —Sharon Clott
Steven Klein's Bridgehampton benefit wasn't the only fashion party out east on Saturday night. Jill Stuart and her husband Ron Curtis celebrated their daughter Morgan's 21st birthday in nearby Sagaponack too. That meant a cake, a tent, a hot tub, and a bar that was never less than six people deep the entire evening. "Scary, isn't it?" asked Stuart, who has two other daughters, one who's 18 (and spent part of the night dancing on the white booths with her older sister) and another who's 12. "I can't believe I have a girl that can drive, vote, and drink—legally—now."
Romney Leader reports from Copenhagen fashion week
MoonSpoonSaloon, a new addition to the calendar, was much-hyped in the lead-up to its show. A collaboration between artist Tal R and former costume designer Sarah Sachs, it aims to create 99 looks for its inaugural season, with each look available in a limited-edition batch of 99. Its debut at the Royal Danish Theater was very much art for art's sake. Ballerinas performed interpretive dance in the clothes, which were court jesterlike in their use of primary colors and voluminous fits. On the other end of the spectrum was denim line Won Hundred, where everything behind the season's collection was recorded in meticulous detail. Liner notes listed 50 ideas designer Nikolaj Nielsen liked and 50 ideas he disliked when conceiving the current line. A second page offered a rundown of the David Lynch-esque video that ran during the show, even listing key symbols for guests to look out for. The actual clothes, in contrast, were refreshingly bare-bones, and standout pieces for women included a boxy twill jacket and baggy drawstring jeans.
Malene Birger's show is a do-not-miss on the fashion week calendar. The Danish designer is an icon in Copenhagen, and the dramatic By Malene Birger collection was enjoyable for both longtime fans and the newly converted. A tough-but-sweet vibe ran strong; black leather knee-high spats were paired with bright floral separates and billowy chiffon skirts. While some looks—though beautiful—borrowed a little too heavily from Marni, Birger really hit her stride with more classically Danish pieces like her sheer smock dresses and tunics. All of the pants, ranging from classic uptown trousers to a sophisticated take on the drop-crotch peg-leg style, were impeccably tailored, and the jewelry and handbags (Birger is of the "bigger is better" school of thought) were covetable.
The big star on hand at Malene Birger was Lene Nostrom, who you may remember from her pop band Aqua's hit single "Barbie Girl." I told her she looked great. "Thanks! The sweater is Alexander McQueen, the leggings are Kova & T, the bag is Chanel, and the shoes are Nicholas Kirkwood," she said. Fans take note: Aqua is gearing up for a reunion tour this fall.
I took some time on Saturday to walk through Gallery, one of two big trade fairs going on simultaneously with the shows. One of the standout displays was Monies, a revered Danish jewelry line from husband/wife team Gerda and Nicolai Monies. Buffalo horns, amber, and rare gems are some of the natural materials found in their dramatic pieces (rings as big as your hand, necklaces that drape to the knee). They've collaborated with Donna Karan and Christian Lacroix, among others, and have freestanding shops in Paris and Geneva. It's hard to believe they were showing me the more conservative pieces ("We save the really special pieces for Paris," whispered the saleswoman), but I swooned over this tangle of shiny ivory beads.
Across the way I saw Peter Jensen manning his own booth, so I went over to say hi. Though it was his men's Spring '09 collection on display, he was kind enough to give me a sneak preview of the women's line, debuting in September at London fashion week. The inspiration? Jodie Foster. "We looked mostly at 'Hotel New Hampshire'," he said, "Jodie had a strong, masculine look there that I loved, but we also took elements from 'Freaky Friday' and 'Silence of the Lambs'." I snapped this sweatshirt (note the "Jodie" and "JF" screenprints) because it encapsulates Jensen's hilarious regard for American culture.
Copenhagen fashion week ended on a spirited note with Henrik Vibskov's show. No one seemed to mind the almost two-hour delay, perhaps because it wasn't the designer's fault, but instead because he opened the show to the public, asking only that ticketless attendees play a trumpet song to gain admittance (if you didn't have a trumpet you could pay 70 kroners). Once the melee at the door had settled and the lights dimmed, the show highlight was Vibskov—himself an avid percussionist—front and center with his drums, playing live to the show soundtrack. Though he's mostly known as a clothing designer in the U.S., throughout Europe Vibskov is regarded as a multi-disciplinary performance artist. The strongest looks in the show featured his signature print work, shown on a baggy women's pant and a colorful men's wool sweater. The after-party began on location immediately following the show, but yours truly headed back to the hotel to begrudgingly prepare for the trip back to New York.
Once a week, Daily Intel takes a peek at what your friends and neighbors are doing behind doors left slightly ajar. Today, the 33-Year-Old Yearning for His First Real Relationship: male, screenwriter and graduate student, Bay Ridge, gay, single.
DAY ONE 7:31 p.m.: Wake up with morning wood that won't go away. Don't have time to take care of it. Get showered and ready for an appointment. 10 a.m.: In the waiting room, I ponder the fact that I have been single for fifteen years. I have never had a serious relationship. I hope one day I will make a viable connection with another gay man who is attracted to me. However, because I have been single and independent for so long, I am not sure how to let others in. Noon: Go to Coney Island Beach. I see plenty of half-naked men, with their assets for the world to see. I get very aroused. I wish I were with a guy, and we could hold hands and just be together. But I am surrounded by only herds of heterosexuals that are able to display ample signs of affection. Not me, which is frustrating to say the least.
4:16 p.m.: I arrive home in Brooklyn. Jerk off twice within one hour to bear porn I downloaded. Feel awesome and rested. 8:31 p.m.: Meet up with my BFF (a bi female). We eventually go back to my place in Brooklyn with cigarettes and beers in hand, to troll the Net for men seeking men on Craigslist, for a laugh. See nothing of interest. 10 p.m.: My friend changes and shows me her breasts. I remark on how lovely they are by squeezing them humorously. I mention if I were straight, I would screw her. 12:13 a.m.: Head out for a walk with my friend. We intently watch two other couples make out on benches. I feel envious. There seems to be a lot of love around me. 2:30 a.m.: We go back home and sleep in my bed, but don't ever touch one another. Even though I dearly love my friend, it is not the same as being with a man, where I feel a sense of safety and security.
DAY TWO 10:37 a.m.: Sleep in late because my friend stayed over. I feel lonely and somewhat restless. 12:30 p.m.: I see a man on the train with large balls directly in front of me. He is wearing no underwear. I get aroused. I see a ring on his finger. I am endlessly attracted to unavailable men. 4 p.m.: Head over to school to work on a project. This guy in the study room that has been checking me out for months finally smiles and says hi. I say hi back and feel an intense rush. 8 p.m.: Place an ad on Craigslist seeking mutual oral gratification. I receive some interesting responses. I realize that this is just another way to have a human connection. I am becoming desperate. I seriously need to construct my feelings and thoughts on staying connected to men like me that are nice and available. 9:45 p.m.: A 43-year-old bi man that responded to my ad arrives at my pad. We chat for a bit and then make out intensely. We strip naked and exchange oral sex; however, neither of us has an orgasm. I eventually give him a sensual massage. I get more satisfaction from just being naked together and kissing, as opposed to the actual head he gave me. 11:40 p.m.: My hookup leaves. I think I couldn't reach a climax because I am a point in my life where I crave more. I crave real human intimacy that doesn't involve a quick fuck. I want something beyond that, where it means something. 11:52 p.m.: Decide I am not going to finish what I started, so I take a sleeping pill and watch Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Go to bed alone.
DAY THREE 8:30 a.m.: Wake up. I put on classical music, which gives me a sense of calm. 9:30 a.m.: Do a massive weekly cleanup of apartment. It is frustrating sometimes to have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. However, in the midst of my cleanups, I have time to think. 1:17 p.m.: Silverdaddies.com. I chat for a few moments with this guy that wants to hook up. I tell him I can't because I have some work I have to finish. I log off. 1:31 p.m.: Masturbate for ten minutes, fantasizing about the man I saw on the train. It seems that this is the only way I can reach orgasm. Because I have been perpetually alone all my adult life, I have trained my body to release only in the privacy of my own company. Pathetic, no? 5:01 p.m.: Continue to have an all-day erection at work. Want to take care of it, but too tired to deal with it right now. 9:05 p.m.: My BFF calls me. We discuss the man I was with the evening before. She is happy I had some action. She is alone too. I wish she had a great girlfriend. She deserves the best. 11:30 p.m.: I can't stop thinking about this guy I was with almost a month ago. We had this deep, intimate connection on a couple of occasions without intercourse. I quivered when we were together. For some apparent reason, he did not follow up. I miss his touch. Wish he were in my bed, so I could hold him tight and make love to him all night. It makes me sad just thinking about it. We live in the same neighborhood. I hope I don't run into him. How awkward would that be? 1 a.m.: Can't sleep, so I pop a sleeping pill. Did I mention I have an addiction to Ambien CR?
DAY FOUR 8:30 a.m.: Wake up stiff. Decide to let it go down via the cold shower I am going to take. 10 a.m.: Meet up with a friend of a friend, who is just going through a painful divorce. I see the pain and hurt in her eyes. 11 p.m.: Start my evening by going out to a gay bar in Brooklyn. Have a few drinks, but nothing happens in terms of meeting guys I like. This is yet another reason I avoid most of the gay scene altogether. Many of the men I see are miserable and lonely. I hope that is not me when I am older. Yikes. 2 a.m.: Pop another Ambien.
DAY FIVE 9 a.m.: Emerge from deep sleep and take a long shower. I realize that by going out once in a while, I am staying connected on some level with the gay community. But it becomes very wearing after many years. 10 a.m.: Make breakfast and search the Internet, where all the men are posting all the same shit. Boring. Whatever happened to creativity? 1:35 p.m.: Go back home and jerk off to men on Bearfront.com. Feel restored as always when I finish. 7 p.m.: I go out for dinner by myself and then take a walk. I have that independent streak in me where I can go anywhere and be alone. But I am realizing that I have become too comfortable being alone. Need to force myself to let others in. 10:35 p.m.: Head over to Excelsior for drinks. I meet two nice men who are married to one another. They flirt and invite me over to their place for a threesome. The younger husband is very into me and begins to touch me in ways I think are questionable. 2:05 p.m.: I am given a ride back to their place. I hesitate once I arrive and decline politely twice. They give me a ride back to my apartment. I get in my bed and go to sleep. I think how lovely it would be to have some other person have my back, like this couple seemed to have. I didn't want to tarnish their union. It didn't seem appropriate. I am glad I didn't give in to lust.
DAY SIX Noon: Wake up from slight hangover. Feel rested. 1 p.m.: Talk to a couple of friends about my night. We discuss how brutal NYC can be and commiserate on the many single people in the city. I feel stuck and know that changes need to be implemented in order for me to have a healthy relationship. 5:15 p.m.: Turn on the A/C and watch American Psycho on HBO. I know, it is a dark satire, but I love watching Christian Bale. He is one of my fantasy husbands. But, again, it is just a fantasy and nothing else. It would be nice to make dinner with someone special and discuss how our weeks went. Midnight: Tune in to hear my favorite weekly radio show on WPLJ. I listen to the topic of the week on self-esteem. It enables me to wonder how I have managed at 33 to have yet to successfully obtain a relationship. I conclude that if I thought more highly of myself, then I would attract the right people. It is something to think about.
DAY SEVEN 8:13 p.m.: Start day and take yet another shower. No morning wood, unfortunately. I feel scathed and vulnerable writing all of these intimate details about my life. 11:45 p.m.: Have session with therapist. I point out how I am struggling to create boundaries in establishing relations with other men. 1 p.m.: Head over to school. 9:35 p.m.: Get out of theDark Knight, which was intense and amazing. My friend remarks on how I need to stop searching for love, and how it will find me. Funny … everyone seems to say that. I don't agree. Sometimes you have to put yourself out there in order to make a connection in this town. You have to go after it, or else you will continue to go unnoticed as I have for too many years.
TOTALS: Zero acts of intercourse; one aborted threesome; one act of fellatio, non-orgasmic; four acts of masturbation; one night sleeping with platonic female friend; two Ambien CRs.
1. Joanna Newsom, "Heart to Task"
Though she sings about water that's "sweet and clear" on this work-in-progress, the quality of this recording really isn't. Still, we can hear enough of this slightly tango-flavored track to know that we want to hear more. [No Words]
2. I'm From Barcelona, "Music Killed Me"
On this new song from the decidedly non-Spaniards of IFB, singer Emanuel Lundgren sings "you have to take some chances I suppose." And they do, turning in a rare downbeat track that works extremely well. [Band Website]
3. The Juan MacLean, "The Simple Life (Marcus Worgull Remix)"
On this recently released B-side, MacLean coaxes a sweet melody out of a giant electronic soup. [Pitchfork]
4. Cause Co-motion!, "I Lie Awake"
This kicky new track from these obnoxiously hyphenated Brooklynites' upcoming full-length will probably have us lying awake waiting for the rest of it to leak. [Pitchfork]
5. Elbow, "Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver"
This live version of the track from Elbow's most recent record is somehow even sadder than its studio counterpart. No wonder there are so many tower-crane accidents. [So Much Silence] —Ehren Gresehover
• Dior Beauty hired Harley Viera-Newton to be the brand's house D.J. and create playlists inspired by Dior's beauty products. More important, she D.J.'s at Lit in the East Village and studies Egyptology at NYU. [WWD]
• Revlon announced today that the new director on their board of directors is Jimmy Choo's founder Tamara Mellon. [Reuters]
• Six months after Shu Uemura died, his brand is still going strong, with beauty editors claiming "Shu Uemura is like the Comme des Garçons of beauty brands." Oh, Shu. [Independent]
PLASTIC SURGERY
• A British doctor says anti-aging surgeries may speed up the aging process: "Four out of five clients I see regret their decision to have anti-ageing surgical procedures and come to me for non-surgical solutions. The truth is that you can't improve the state of healthy skin by cutting it." [Daily Mail]
• Lil' Kim's nose used to have dents. Now it doesn't. Discuss. [Awful Plastic Surgery]
SKIN
• Lush came out with a Retro Gift Box that includes six bath bomb scents. It looks cool, but bath bombs are a little too messy for us. [Teen Vogue]
Wire obsessives can complete their home collection today with the release of the final season on DVD. You’ll also be able to scratch your David Simon–inspired itch with audio commentaries and new documentary material — the cast shares favorite scenes and characters in the warm, unexpected series recap, “The Wire Odyssey,” and Simon adds personal reminisces from his career at the Baltimore Sun in “The Last Word.”
Gerald Edwards III’s Investigation Into the Disruption of Power (2006).Courtesy of Bond Street Gallery
Gerald Edwards III might have an even more optimistic vision of humanity's impending extinction than those dazzling animation geniuses over at Pixar. Through the haze, Edwards offers us the end of the world, only in pastel colors. As artists embrace our potential doom, the apocalypse just gets prettier and prettier. See more takes on Armageddon and other slightly more sanguine subjects in a sprawling, kinetic photography show at Bond Street Gallery through September 6. —Emma Pearse
Last week 35-year-old Michael McCarthy was fired from his job as a vice-president in equities trading at Citigroup. McCarthy had been moonlighting as Large, the voice behind Take a Report, a frattishly offensive bro blog with a large Wall Street audience. Citigroup spokeswoman Danielle Romero-Apsilos tells us that McCarthy "was terminated for behavior that violated the firm's code of conduct and policies," which could mean, oh, roughly, his recent report of coming into the office hung-over:
Stumbled to the Mens Room near the back of my floor and I saw some boxes against the wall just outside of the can. There was a woman’s overcoat laying across the boxes. I think someone left it there to be thrown out. Or maybe someone just left it there to leave it there … I really have no fucking idea. Anyhoo, I grab the coat and bring it into the handicap stall. I take a dump … I throw up in that same bowl … I lay the coat out on the floor of the spacious stall … I take off my glasses … I sleep for twenty minutes on top of the coat…
Born-and-bred New Yorker Camille Mervin has that certain mysterious, can't-put-your-finger-on-it charm — and she's only 14. The ingenue debuted at Rad Hourani's fall show this past February and popped up in the designer's video presentation for his collection. Her agents have kept a tight hold on her to avoid overexposure (she is only 14, after all), but she made a surprise appearance this July at Jean Paul Gaultier's couture show. Mervin’s long, flowing red hair contrasted with her ethereal face (which reminds us of a young Guinevere van Seenus) made her stand out in the sea of cookie-cutter girls that dominates the runways today. And post-shows, the statuesque opera fanatic (yes, opera) enjoys hitting the sofa and knitting the night away (she is 14, after all). —James Lim
She may be the daughter of Arthur Miller and wife of Daniel Day-Lewis, but Rebecca Miller is making her own mark on the film and literary worlds. The writer-director of Personal Velocity and The Ballad of Jack and Rose just released her debut novel, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee — a heavy-hitter about a 50-year-old housewife dealing with aging and the loss of identity — and a big-screen adaptation is already in the works. Read it before Robin Wright Penn, Alan Arkin, and Blake Lively inhabit the characters in '09.
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee
Rebecca Miller
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Out Aug. 11
$23
In a conference call with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver this morning, Governor David Paterson outlined the cuts he'd like to make in the state budget to help close the projected $6.4 billion budget gap. Among his main targets were aid initiatives to local governments (a 6 percent cut would save the state $250 million) and discretionary funding at the state level (a 50 percent cut in spending on pet projects would save $100 million). But his biggest cut was saved for Medicaid. Paterson wants to lower a proposed increase in state spending on health care by $506 million. It would still be a 2 percent increase from last year, but it would hit hospitals, nursing homes, and home care the hardest. Since public-school funding is safe for now, the Medicare cuts are likely to be his most unpopular proposal. Remember those ads with the irate nurses and home-care workers that were always on TV last year?
It's likely to be the unions for these workers that will fight Paterson's proposed cuts, as they did when Spitzer made a similar move. But Azi Paybarah reports in the Observer that the governor has done a better job of cozying up to 1199 SEIU lately, so he may have better luck. Now is the time that his lovable reputation is really going to be put to the test.
AP - You'll know you're in a different galaxy within the first seconds of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," which substitutes the Warner Bros. logo and theme music for the familiar 20th Century Fox searchlight and fanfare.
The pictures are small because we want to protect you.Courtesy of CNN
It was only a matter of time, wasn't it? After all, men already came for our skirts, which we're trying to be fine with because, hey, easy access! Then they came for our eyeliner (or maybe that was just Pete Wentz?) and our girdles, and we started to sense that our territory was being encroached upon. Now they have co-opted our pantyhose. Why? For warmth, added support, and circulation, according to CNN, which claims that mantyhose sales are "booming." There's even a Website called e-MANcipate aiming to "accelerate the acceptance of male pantyhose as a regular clothing item." The site offers testimonials from truck drivers who swear by mantyhose for those long cold drives and an illustrated guide for how to put on male pantyhose without destroying them (FYI guys, an unkempt toenail can ruin the entire operation!).
But Prime News' Mike Galanos ain't buying what they're selling. "C'mon, what's the point here?" the CNN reporter said during the segment. "You put on a pair of shorts, you've got some ugly hairy legs. That's what guys do!" —Noelle Hancock
Say it ain't so, Zhang! It turns out that the very beginning of the Beijing opening ceremony we loved so much — the 29 firework footprints that stepped across the city, finally landing at the Bird's Nest stadium — were in fact a painstakingly created CGI image. Actual footprint-shaped fireworks were shot off — captured in this video, for example — but for the broadcast, the ceremony's organizers decided it would be too hard to capture the entire scene, so they faked it, complete with fake Beijing smog and fake helicopter-induced camera shaking. We're crushed! Look for news later today that Michael Phelps is a robot and beach volleyball players are actually not that hot.
AP - "The Power of Place" (Oxford University Press. 280 pages. $27.95), by Harm de Blij: Consider this: During the last two decades of the 20th century, Texas reported 64 cases of dengue fever.
"To have so many difficulties to write the lyrics for 'D.A.N.C.E.' — we were just trying to find something not too serious and not too narrative, because it's boring or cheesy. Something a bit more than 'Shake your body to the ground' or 'Can you feel the vibe?' or 'Do you feel the funk?'" —Justice's Xavier de Rosnay finally explains the origins of "Do the D.A.N.C.E. / Stick to the B.E.A.T." [Pitchfork]
"I remember going, 'Wait a minute, I don't know how to play this scene — Joan is being really nice.'" —Christina Hendricks of Mad Men [Watcher/Chicago Tribune]
"My mother still thinks that being a paralegal is the greatest job possible. Even when I told my mother they're going to greenlight the movie, that they're going to start shooting it, she was like: 'You know what? I got these brochures about being a paralegal. You should check it out.'" —Michael C. Martin, former MTA employee and writer of the currently shooting movie Brooklyn's Finest [NYT]
"There are two kinds of men on Earth. The ones who wouldn't want to date Nellie Oleson on a dare, and those who want to date Nellie Oleson a little too much — and wanted me to wear the wig. So I could only have sex with people who had never seen the show.'" —Alison Arngrim on Little House on the Prairie [NYDN]
"I've been pitying fools for 28 years, Bill, and it's never personal." —Mr. T [Fox]
There's no question "Tropic Thunder" takes chances. Some are for laughs. Some make the audience think. And some have angered interest groups, which may take action against the film. But Ben Stiller and his cast stand up for the final product.
Asking your significant other whether he genuinely likes the outfit you've chosen usually elicits one of two responses: "Yeah," or "Yeah, that's hot." Has he ever told you that you look slutty or fat in that vaguely see-through blouse? Probably not, unless he's jealous/insecure/looking for a death threat. Of course, most women aren't lucky enough to have designers for husbands, who, like Duro Olowu, would ostensibly tell you the truth. "As a husband and a designer…I have come to realize that comments from the partner can, and should, be taken seriously," Olowu writes in the Financial Times, while simultaneously confessing that most men are ill-equipped to actually articulate their (dis)pleasure. Conceivably, no woman wants to hear that her sartorial preferences verge on the tacky side, so unless your man comes equipped with a degree from Central Saint Martins, isn't the whole thing an exercise in futility? Wanting to know when your partner both likes and dislikes an ensemble is basically a catch-22, as Olowu sort of admits. His nonsensical answer? Encouragement! Simply tell her (preferably in a posh British
accent), "Buy it darling, buy it. You look beautiful in it." Or, in American, "Yeah, that's hot." This is why we shop alone. —Sarah Fones
This weekend, nature and rudeness reigned in the Hamptons, per usual. Strong rip currents have forced these hot East Hampton lifeguards to perform more than 250 rescues this summer. Julianne Moore stayed classy and polite as the ticket taker for the Jitney told her there was no room for her, despite her reservation, then loudly spelled out her name for all to hear. At the new, Zabar-owned farmer's market in Amagansett, a woman yelled at a sweet young cashier for allegedly overpricing her cucumbers.
Nina Garcia lets all of this roll off her back. She comes to the Hamptons to decompress, she says, and she really shuns the social scene. "For me, the Hamptons are all about being in my bathing suit all day and barbecuing with my family," she says, adding that most weekends she stays in, entertaining such friends as Tinsley and Minnie Mortimer and Marjorie Gubelmann.
Also shunning the social scene this weekend, but in a different way, was Gwyneth Paltrow, who looked peeved to be photographed at a benefit for a horse-rescue farm. Dina and Ali Lohan went to see the Jonas Brothers at the Ross School, then to a polo match in Bridgehampton. Little Jack and Sailor caught the Jonas Brothers concert for the Ross School because their freshly divorced mom and dad, Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook, managed "a quiet handoff" of the kids at the show.
A corrections officer who moonlighted as a bouncer at Southampton's Publick House is dead after being strangled for at least a minute by a patron there, making for the first murder in Southampton in twenty years.
Meanwhile, at a benefit for the East Hampton library, architect Robert A.M. Stern signed copies of his book for people whose houses he'd designed. Paris Hilton's clip talking back to John McCain for putting her in an anti-Obama ad was supposedly shot in the Hamptons, then sent to Hilton in Denmark for final approval. People like Jay McInerney and Peggy Siegal went to the Southampton opening of Bottle Shock, starring Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman, about the California vineyard scene in the seventies. And when John McCain had lunch here a few weeks ago with U.S. Representative Eric Cantor from Virginia, they may have been discussing Cantor as a potential running mate. Southampton fire and police forces shut down a Brazilian and African drumming circle on a beach here that may have drawn up to 1,500 dancers. Finally: Why are there more rabbits than usual out here? Duh, because there are fewer foxes!
Crazy Canuck cinema junkie Guy Maddin is the mad scientist of the Great North’s cinematic underground. So it’s hysterical fun to see him playing a fictional version of himself in this wacked-out silent sci-fi memoir, set in a spooky lighthouse. When it premiered in New York two years ago, kindred spirits read the narration live. For the DVD, Criterion packs in seven alternate narration tracks read by Maddin and buddies Isabella Rossellini, Laurie Anderson, Joshn Ashberry, and Crispin Glover.
With his unruly locks, dangling pendants, and a manner that's simultaneously intense and laid-back, Sam Bassett comes across as a Haight-Ashbury hippie reincarnated as a twenty-first-century fashion and portrait photographer-cum-skater dude. The effect is hardly undermined by his living quarters: He resides on the roof of Manhattan's Chelsea Hotel, in the same wooden aerie where actress Sarah Bernhardt was said to keep a coffin to entertain lovers.
Being something of a character, the 30 year-old New Jersey native finds himself drawn to other strong characters, and living in the Chelsea, he has a few of those under his nose. That's one way to explain the genesis of his latest project, "Bettina," a recently completed feature-length documentary about the artist (and hotel resident) Bettina Bashyi. When Bassett first encountered Bashyi, her apartment had been declared a fire hazard, and she was about to be evicted. "Bettina" tracks his efforts to help her clear out the furiously cluttered space, and while the film's highly personal style may not be every cineplexgoer's cup of tea, the emotional payoff couldn't be more resonant. The cleanup not only unearths a trove of Bashyi's earlier work, but also offers a moving portrait of a woman emerging from decades of intense isolation. "She's a huge inspiration to me," says Bassett. "And it's nice to think that in my own way, I've helped inspire her, too."
"Bettina"—which Bassett has started showing at informal rooftop screenings—is just the first film in a planned six-part documentary series. Other subjects include the poet Ira Cohen, gay-rights pioneer Storme, and the Chelsea Hotel itself, which is in the midst of a transition as its idiosyncratic, tolerant ways meet the forces of contemporary Manhattan real estate. It's not hard to guess which side of the divide Bassett stands on. As he says, "All the films relate to my interest in independence of spirit."
From left, top: Grizzly Bear, Girl Talk, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper; Bottom: Nicole Atkins, The Go! Team, Kings of Leon, CSSPhotos: Getty Images
Maybe you didn't have the cash for the tickets (despite everyone in your office e-mailing last week about extra seats for sale). Maybe you were worried about the weather (although it was mostly perfect). Maybe you're just a sad loser like us. Whatever your excuse for missing All Points West, why not read a maddening litany of all the other awesome concerts — besides Radiohead — you didn't see?
The Go! Team
The dynamic Brighton-based dance band kicked off the festival Friday afternoon with loud pulsing beats and exercise steps to "Get It Together" and "The Power Is On," the American Apparel–clad singer Ninja prancing around like a renegade Spice Girl and calling out to the crowd, "Anyone who isn't dancing is going to get fat!"
Girl Talk Gregg Gillis blew the early-evening air wide open when he and his ragtag entourage of dancers, B-boys, drag queens, models, and hipsters packed the stage, throwing beach balls and glitter into a jacked-up crowd. The Pittsburgh mix master let loose a barrage of prodigious pairings: Youngbloodz–cum–folk rock with "Damn!"/"The Weight," old- vs. new-school hip-hop in "No Diggity"/"The Whisper Song," and an extremely X-rated interlude about oral sex mashed up with the MacBook Air song. A giant balloon fish weaved its way through outstretched arms as Sinead O'Connor's entreaty to her lover "Nothing Compares 2 U" mixed with Shawnna's equally emotional "Gettin' Some Head."
Kings of Leon
The Nashville rockers brought their fieriest guitar chords to the main stage like it was a stadium, playing a sexed-up set which included "Crawl," "Happy Alone" and "King of the Rodeo" as the screen panned between singer Caleb Followill's furrowed brow and drummer Nathan Followill's pink-bubblegum bubble-blowing.
Jack Johnson
Since the Hawaiian folk rocker Johnson has added multi-instrumentalist Zach Gill to the lineup, the sound is richer, Gill's piano adding a bluesy jazz vibe that makes sun-soaked favorites like "Poor Taylor" and "Bubble Toes" sound new again. Those who'd braved a day of rain got a pleasant surprise when special guests began appearing. Trey Anastasio wandered over from the next stage to play awesomely on "Mudfootball." Matt Costa spent all of "Fall Line" a verse or two behind.
Grizzly Bear
It was fine afternoon fare, the crooning harmonies mingling with the scent of funnel cakes as the Brooklyn-based Grizzlies played longtime favorites like "Knife," with some of the clearest and tightest vocals of the festival.
CSS
Strobe lights, neon leotards, boas — it all came together in a burst of energetic electro-pop with the Brazilian beat-boppers and the crowd dancing along to "Music Is My Hot Hot Sex" and "Alala," upraised hands rising and falling in rhythm to instrumental breaks. Lead singer Lovefoxxx is that girl at the bar who has more fun than everyone else.
Nicole Atkins
Your next indie crush from Jersey had Karen O's smoky, dragged-out vocals perfectly paired with quirky set choices like "Brooklyn's on Fire," which crescendoed into a fist-pumping tribute to the borough.
K'naan
The socially conscious rapper spent the last three months sampling Ethiopian soul and recording in Marley's old house, and decided to share a few tracks with the crowd. The sweetness of his voice on a cappella tracks juxtaposed with the bitter images of violence and corruption in Jamaica.
Duffy
The pint-size performer from Wales has gotten a lot of flack for trying to be the next Winehouse, but "Rehab" ripoff "Mercy" aside, which face it, is fun and danceable, Duffy chose to shine the spotlight not solely on those scratchy vocals, but her distinctive pitch and penchant for introspective lyrics as well, showcasing songs like "Warwick Avenue," and the title track off her album Rockferry.
The Felice Brothers
Maybe the best faux-hillbilly band around (c'mon, one of them is from Staten Island), the set, although uneven, deserves serious credit for their rub-a-dub fun-time song lyrics like "I poured some whiskey into my whiskey," and the off-kilter sense of humor showcased on a Dylan-esque ballad to a long-lost pussycat named Ruby, complete with requisite feline screeching into the mike. —Lauren Salazar
Thomas Frank — author of 2004’s What’s the Matter With Kansas and editor of radically populist nineties journal The Baffler — now, improbably, works for Rupert Murdoch, as a columnist for The Wall Street Journal editorial page. His latest book, The Wrecking Crew, an old-fashioned muckraker-style polemic against the lobbyist-driven dismantling of New Deal–era social programs, was released last week. He talked with New York about how he's taking to the columnist life.
Your e-mail address runs at the end of your Wall Street Journal columns making fun of conservative economic policy. What’s the reader response been like?
The kind of people that write letters to columnists are … self-selecting. They’re not too pleased with me. I’m going to leave it at that. But, in some ways, writing for the Journal has been a big change in the right direction.
Their readers are interested in financial issues. When you think about the kind of people that read the small lefty magazines that I wrote for before, they don’t tend to think about big financial questions — or even small financial questions! [Laughs] There are a few places like In These Times and The Nation that talk about workplace issues, but by and large the leftist press is focused on electoral politics in Washington. But the readers of The Wall Street Journal know immediately what I’m talking about.
What do you think of this year’s candidates?
I used to like McCain! The big issue that runs throughout my book is privatization and outsourcing of government work, saying, look at what they’re doing, it’s unbelievable! McCain was one of the smartest guys in the Senate on that subject, and you know who one of the other smartest guys was? Obama! They were the two leaders in demanding oversight on outsourcing and privatizing, and they’re the two guys running for president. I wish they were debating this stuff, but McCain is busy sliming Obama, and Obama is trying to stay above it all, and he should know better. He should be getting deep into a criticism of the Bush administration and conservatism generally.
What would you like to see the next president do to address this issue?
The problem is the federal government has been hollowed out; the good people have left for the private sector, a lot of its authority has been contracted out, in sometimes very alarming ways, but almost always in very expensive and wasteful and very incompetent ways.
What do you do about that?
You investigate it in a massive way. I’m going to mention at every talk I give on this tour my idea for Obama, which is on day one as president to have a reverse Grace Commission. The Grace Commission was appointed by Reagan after he’d driven the country into a massive deficit via the tax cuts — he appointed like 400 executives who got to examine the federal government in its every detail. So it was literally the business community gets to examine its enemy, the federal government. And they were the ones who said we need to privatize and outsource basically everything. So he should appoint a reverse Grace Commission.
You’ve been picking on Thomas Friedman lately. Do you think he has a shelf life as a columnist in a time when all his predictions about things like Iraq and the economy are turning out wrong?
Ha. I really admire his reporting on the Middle East — when he sticks to that subject, he’s the best there is. It’s sad to see a guy like that become a cheerleader for the free market. It’s really just tragic. I’m sure he’ll just move on to the next subject. I’m sure he’ll do very well.
—Ben Mathis-Lilley
If case you didn't get the memo, shoes are the new bags. A pair of killer heels are where it's at, both in terms of expressing a unique sartorial statement and helping retailers to meet their bottom lines. Perhaps that's why iconic department store Liberty of London is launching a shoe salon, nicknamed the House of Heels, with a grand opening scheduled for next month's London fashion week. Playing off the store's historic Tudor architecture, the various rooms of the "house" create different tableaux in which the shoes are displayed, from warm and intimate in the "drawing room" to coolly contemporary in the "bedroom." Collections include offerings from YSL, McQueen, Alaïa, Balenciaga, Prada, Westwood, and Chloé, with U.K. exclusives from shoe savants Nicholas Kirkwood and Rupert Sanderson.
Best of all, Liberty is launching an e-commerce site this September, and by Spring '09 the shoes will be available online.
Inside the store, Saturday, 10:27 p.m.Photo: Sharon Clott
In honor of the Olympic Games (by the way, did you see that men's four-by-100m freestyle relay?...to die), Humberto Leon and Carol Lim of Opening Ceremony kept their Howard Street store open for 72 straight hours , cramming more than fifteen events into the three-day schedule this past weekend. And because the thought of free manicures, free Scott Campbell tattoos, and free psychic readings were the highlight of our weekend (don't judge, free equals fun), we stopped by (twice! at 10 p.m. and at 4 a.m.) to bring you the scoop. Hey, who needs sleep?
The sales were good.
The store only got 54 pairs of the much-hyped, limited-edition metallic gold and silver Nike sneakers. Each day, they sold only a numbered amount at 11:59 p.m. And by 12:03, they were sold out, Olivia Kim, the director of wholesale, told us. Santogold herself scored the first pairs — she bought one of each color.
The parties were better.
On Friday, the team launched their friends-and-family dance party with Cheer New York cheerleaders outside the shop, flying around, flipping, and building pyramids. "It stopped traffic," Kim said. "We wanted cheerleaders because it's a sport not represented in the Olympics." How equal-opportunity! Then came a performance by Hercules and Love Affair, where Alexander Wang was spotted getting his boogie on. The whole shindig started at 10 p.m., and the last people trickled out at 5:30 a.m., after stuffing themselves with milk and six dozen Insomnia cookies. Adorable.
10:29 p.m.Photo: Sharon Clott
Scrabble isn't so fun at 6 a.m.
Scrabble was a bust from 6 to 9 a.m. on Saturday morning. "No one wanted to come play!" Kim said. "We had all this smart-people food like granola, yogurt, and fresh fruit to keep people's brains going and only seven people were here. And of them, it was four of us, two friends, and one doctor we pulled in from the street after his night shift." Aw. That doesn't sound very scrabulous, now does it?
Ping-Pong ruled.
We stopped by the Ping-Pong match hosted by Philip Crangi on Saturday night/Sunday morning at 4 a.m., and found twenty people crowded around four Ping-Pong tables drinking mini-cans of Budweiser on the lower level of the store. Among the competitors we spotted Benjamin Cho, clad in black skinny jeans, a loose heather-gray V-neck tee, and a gray-and-black scarf. He pounded the little white balls at his opponent with his miniature paddle, but without a scoreboard, we couldn't call a clear winner. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt, though. He's on Team USA, after all. —Sharon Clott and Kristi Garced
Roberto Cavalli is taking a swing at some of the world's top models — and one should never hit at models, they break easily, you know. In a controversial interview with Observer Food Monthly (you'll never read that sentence again), the 68-year-old designer criticizes Kate Moss, saying he doesn't think she "has what it takes to be a true star." The fashion legend says he prefers to work with "artists" such as Diddy instead of professional catwalkers. "For me, models are just pieces of wood that I carve to make clothes look beautiful," he says. "There are thousands of models like all other models. Naomi Campbell is the same way."
Oh, Roberto. So often he delights us, but. But. Let's set aside the fact that Kate Moss is already a star. Forbes named her second on its list of the world's fifteen top-earning supermodels, and her clothing line has pulled in approximately $40 million since launching in 2007. And let's ignore the fact that Naomi Campbell is as original as they come, having stomped over racial barriers as the first black model to appear on the covers of Time and both British and French Vogue, all while possessing a startlingly accurate pitching arm. Let's forget these details. When it comes down to it, there's one real issue here: How dare he criticize our models?! We love our models!
We're also kind of perplexed by the wood metaphor. You carved the clothes, Homeboy, not the people. Moreover, the carving-people thing is kind of freaking us out. Let's not speak of it again. —Noelle Hancock
FINANCE
• Two days before Bear Stearns collapsed, someone wagered $1.7 million that the company's shares would plummet. "That trade amounted to buying a lottery ticket," says one strategist. "Would you buy $1.7 million worth of lottery tickets just because you could? No. Neither would a hedge fund manager." [Bloomberg]
• Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson agreed with President Bush's analysis that Wall Street was drunk and now it's got a hangover, saying there "absolutely" was "a lot of truth" to the statement. [NYP]
• Poor Carl Icahn! The activist investor's hedge funds are down 6 percent, shares of Icahn Enterprises have dropped 50 percent, and he's not winning any boardroom battles: So far this year he's struggled with Yahoo and faced defeat with auto-parts maker Lear Corporation. He still has billions of dollars, though.[NYP]
MEDIA
• Ex-NYT reporter Sharon Waxman will start an entertainment news aggregation site called The Wrap. [MarketWatch]
• The New York Times explains why it stayed away from the John Edwards affair story for so long, sort of. [NYT]
• The FBI apologized to the New York Times and the Washington Post for botching the way it obtained phone recorders from the newspapers' reporters when the bureau was involved in a national-security investigation nearly four years ago. [WP]
• Rolling Stone is shrinking its size, getting heavier paper stock and a perfect-bound spine, which should make stacking it in piles and ignoring it easier. [NYT]
REAL ESTATE
• New York City Council speaker Christine Quinn, who lives in a rent-stabilized apartment, is one of the many political luminaries who are enjoying the benefits of a government-regulated, below-market Manhattan pad. [NYS]
• Neighbors who were opposed to the Ikea opening in Red Hook now actually kind of like having it there. "It isn't awful," one nearby resident said. [NYT]
• The more pedestrian and bike-friendly your street is, the higher property value your house has. [Brownstoner]
LAW
• The auction-rate-securities legal investigation happened at a rapid-fire pace. Who is responsible for getting it through the system so fast? [Law Blog/WSJ]
• Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy is being audited for allegedly giving too much assistance to clients seeking green cards for foreign workers, but the firm is fighting back: It claims that the Labor Department's rules are unconstitutional. [Law Blog/WSJ]
• Barack Obama is a hit with lawyers: The presidential hopeful has pulled in nearly $21 million in donations from the nation's legal minds. [Forbes]
Rather unbelievably, the song "Cruel Summer" celebrates its 25th birthday this year. And rather more unbelievably, for anyone who spent the summer of 1983 trying to look exactly like her, ex-Bananarama star Siobhan Fahey looks even better now than she did then. Proof? Fahey stars in designer Katy Rodriguez's fall ad campaign, and to judge by the pics, time has not only treated her well, it's bathed her in milky splendor. "It was one of those, oh my God, that's HER moments," Rodriguez recalls of her first impression of
Fahey. "That's the woman who should be wearing my clothes." The two have a mutual friend, and Rodriguez had found herself seated across from the singer at a dinner party; the rest is, well, ad-campaign history. Though Rodriguez may have known instantly that Fahey belonged in her clothes, Fahey confesses
to being "flattered and bemused" by the designer's overtures. "Er, I'm 5'5" and I'm not a model," she says. "My initial response was, why me?" Forget Botox. Apparently, humility is the elixir of youth.
"Wait, we've got other problems?"Photo: Getty Images
While you were distracted by Brett Favre's lap-running (celebrities: They're just like us!), Michael Phelps's gold-medal-winning crotch huggers, and a major golf tournament that didn't involve Tiger Woods, you might have missed the most noteworthy New York sports event of the weekend: The Yankees look like they're going to miss the playoffs for the first time since there were no playoffs.
The culprits were the longtime tormenting Angels, who swept the Yankees right out of Anaheim/Los Angeles/California in dominating fashion, winning Friday and Saturday by a combined 21-9 score and then, worst of all, beating Mariano Rivera in a walk-off yesterday. We only have 44 games left in the regular season — and only 19 left at Yankee Stadium — and the Yankees are in serious trouble.
They're eight and a half games behind the Devil Rays in the American League East and, perhaps more ominous, not only four games behind the Red Sox in the wild card, but also two and a half behind the Twins. That extra team makes a lot of difference; even if they're able to chase down the Sox, the AL Central runner-up, either the Twins or the White Sox will be fighting for that same slot. And those teams don't have half the rotation on the disabled list and a frustrated manager who confesses that he's not quite sure what to do.
Baseball Prospectus' Playoff Odds Report, checked daily by baseball diehards this time of year, lists the Yankees with just a 8.87 percent chance of reaching the postseason and a 1.20 percent chance at winning the division. That's far lower than the Mets' chances (43.1 percent) and those of long shots like the Cardinals and Marlins. Put it this way: The Rockies, who are fourteen games under .500, have a better chance of winning their division than the Yankees. Or, in other terms, according to bookmaker Paddy Power, the odds of the Yankees winning the American League East are nearly equal to those of John Edwards being picked by Barack Obama as his vice-president.
To put it bluntly: The Yankees are in SERIOUS trouble. It's becoming more apparent than ever that the last game in Yankee Stadium will not be in October; it will be Sunday, September 19, 8:05 p.m. against the Baltimore Orioles. The cheapest seats on StubHub are $336. Better hurry. And if you're having difficulty coming to terms with a Yankees-less October … hey, look over there! It's Brett Favre! —Will Leitch
AP - Steve Hale has discovered a reason to splurge on clothing again: the slim silhouette in suits to shirts that's replacing the baggier fits of past years. But his wife, Cathy, has slashed her monthly apparel spending, saying she's "bored" by what's out there.
Lauren Conrad's reputation right now as a budding fashion designer seems to be struggling — just like her line! It's not like she's not trying, we'll give her that. But her delivery needs work. First, she got dropped by Kitson. Then, in an attempt to redeem herself, she appeared at Bloomingdale's in Los Angeles last week to present her latest collection to hundreds of screaming teenage fans. Only, she had trouble talking about her own clothes. She described one of her looks in less than twenty words: "This one's a little more nighttime. Again, it's a mini, it's that asymmetrical look that is in for this fall. Um, um. That's it [points to model]." That's just sad. Add in awkward pauses, an unplanned monologue, uncomfortable smiling, only two models, and terrible stage banter, and you've got one brutal presentation. It's called prep and practice, L.C.! Shouldn't you know that from your "unscripted" reality show? But, we're not saying this just to pour salt in her fashion wounds. Take a look for yourself in this video. —Sharon Clott
AP - WHAT'S NEW: In tough economic times, men are traditionally the first to cut back on buying clothes, but there's been a major shift. Over the past year, men enticed by a new slimmed-down silhouette have been on a buying spree, while women have pulled back even more. The lopsided fortunes is creating a rare sales disparity that hasn't been seen in years. Source: Yahoo! News: Fashion News | 11 Aug 2008 | 4:58 pm
As the Olympics kicked off in all its trippy, sideways-jogging wonder, Georgia and Russia eschewed the spirit of international brotherhood as they waged war over the breakaway region of South Ossetia. This was all going down right around the moment Vladimir Putin and George Bush were greeting one another in Beijing. For Barack Obama and John McCain, however, the war was a chance to demonstrate how they would respond to an unexpected international crisis as president. Obama initially called for both nations "to show restraint" and "avoid an escalation to full-scale war," before later blaming Russia for escalating the crisis and violating "Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity." McCain, who has repeatedly expressed his disdain for Putin (“I looked into Mr. Putin’s eyes and I saw three things — a K and a G and a B”), was taking a hard line against Russia from the start, calling for them to “unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces.” Earlier this morning, he said that Russia's actions are "unacceptable" and that the world should come "together in universal condemnation of Russian aggression." There may be no winners in war, but who's coming out on top in this political test?
• Chuck Todd and friends say McCain "is going to have a hard time making the case that Obama has a deer-in-the-headlights look when the Bush Administration appears to be acting more paralyzed than either candidate." Is it worth it for McCain to be more hawkish than Bush, and push Obama and Bush closer together on the issue? [First Read/MSNBC]
• Jennifer Rubin writes that if the conflict becomes a "major foreign policy issue," then it's a "reminder that we live in unstable and dangerous times," which is "a reminder the Obama camp would rather voters not have." Obama's "bizarre initial reaction" and "even stranger decision to attack a McCain advisor using Russian talking points" shows a misread that could be "crucial" for a president. [Contentions/Commentary]
• Ben Smith thinks McCain's instinctual immediate response of "moral clarity … seems to have been borne out by Russia's widening campaign." The Democrats will have a hard time convincing people that "McCain was impetuous and happened to be right." [Politico]
• Jonathan Martin agrees with his colleague that McCain "appears to have been ahead of the curve in his assessment that Moscow was the bad actor here." McCain's campaign is now pushing YouTube clips of McCain's "tough talk" on Russia from years ago to demonstrate his prescience. [Politico]
• Josh Patashnik believes "the Obama campaign swung and missed when it tried to highlight McCain adviser Randy Scheunemann's lobbying for Georgia." Obama corrected himself by "placing the blame more firmly on Russia's shoulders while McCain is veering ever further in the direction of calling for a new cold war." [Plank/New Republic]
• Jim Geraghty claims Obama's first statement amounted to "War is bad," while his second statement was, essentially, "Russian invasions are bad." McCain, meanwhile, was basically saying "Put those tanks in reverse, Putin." [Campaign Spot/New Republic]
• Matthew Yglesias is surprised that McCain has "decided to make this a campaign issue, with national security adviser and former registered lobbyist for Georgia Randy Scheunemann condemning Barack Obama for moral equivalence." McCain's reaction to the conflict was just another example of "a foreign policy philosophy that seems actively hostile to the idea of prudence." [Think Progress]
• Laura Meckler writes that "the conflict gave Sen. Obama the opportunity to show that he is indeed prepared," but the focus on foreign policy will likely give McCain an advantage, if it becomes an issue with voters at all. [WSJ]
• Steve Benen contends that if McCain's response is what we can expect from him as president, then he'd "apparently be anxious to exacerbate the burgeoning war, and antagonize Russia." [Carpetbagger Report]
• Greg Sargent thinks that McCain "clearly hopes to use the combo of the violence and Obama's vacation to associate himself more directly with an international crisis and to try to remind people that the world remains a dangerous place." [TPM Election Central]
—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.
AP - When Electronic Arts announced the retired Brett Favre as its 20th anniversary cover boy, it looked like the notorious "Madden" curse which had mangled the careers of Michael Vick, Donovan McNabb and Shaun Alexander was finally broken.
James Jeans' founder and creative director Seun Lim has created a knitwear collection. The hook? She used her pattern drafting skills to create the stylish jackets, coats, and sweaters, all of which can go from day to night. The wool and cashmere-blend styles are hitting stores this week, but the Paul Poiret-inspired cocoon coat is already on my wish list. James Jeans Poiret wrap, $418. Available at Olive and Bette's, (800) 396-1236, www.oliveandbettes.com.
Katie Holmes is often accused of copycatting Posh Spice's style, but when it comes to denim, apparently she prefers to steal a trick from Becks. To wit: David Beckham has been making a habit of wearing PRPS' Impala jean, and lately, so too has the lady Holmes—straight from the men's department. Soon, however, female fans of PRPS' retro denim will be getting a version of the Impala made just for them. The brand is debuting its womenswear collection this fall, and PRPS founder and designer Don Harrell fully expects the boyfriend-y Impala to emerge as the label's knockout cut. "Women have been seeking out the men's version," he notes, "so we decided we'd do an identical pair. The only thing I changed was the rise; we made it a little tiny bit shorter, so they slouch right." Harrell is fanatical about those kinds of details—the Virginia native is a vintage-car fiend and drag-racing fan, and he gathers much of his inspiration for the damage on his denim at the strip. "I go every weekend and watch the guys who work on the cars. Oil stains, tears, blots of antifreeze, very authentically American degradation. I take pictures, and mail them off to my factory in Japan."
AP - Good voices, masterful music from the orchestra pit, fanciful costumes and comic touches that had the audience laughing out loud were the highlights of Sunday's new production of Mozart's "The Magic Flute."
How do famous design houses manage to hook up celebrities with dresses than are often hideous? Shouldn't they know what looks hot and what doesn't?
— Ryan
Hot is...
Who says couples have to do everything together? (Besides tabloids and other judgmental types?)
Jennifer Aniston and John Mayer may not have been photographed together since July 27, but...
Vanessa Hudgens is having a lot of trouble losing her old entourage.
For the second time in the past 12 months, the High School Musical star has been sued by a former business associate...
Putting the more in Morocco, Jake Gyllenhaal gets all bulked up and "bear" chested for his role in the fantasy flick Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
Maybe the fantasy...
Britney Spears is proving day after day that she is well on her way to getting back to being the pop princess we all fell in love with not so long ago.
Check her out in one of the promos...
When it comes to shameless self-promotion, the more shameless, the better. Which is one of the many reasons we love Rainn Wilson.
Currently, the Rainn Mann is on an all-out assault...
Ben Stiller doesn't think it's necessary for anyone to boycott Tropic Thunder. And not just because he directed it.
"It's sort of edgy territory, but we felt that as long...
The third time is not the charm for Ed McMahon.
The former Tonight Show sidekick was hit with his third debt-related lawsuit of the summer today, this one filed by a SoCal lending firm...
As the Summer Olympics heat up, we can't help but wonder if Hollywood might make a biopic or two about some of Beijing's A-list athletes.
While it's kinda obvs Brad Pitt...
