AP - George Clooney hosted a charity event Tuesday night to raise money for victims in Darfur.AP - George Clooney hosted a charity event Tuesday night to raise money for victims in Darfur.
AP - George Clooney hosted a charity event Tuesday night to raise money for victims in Darfur.
AP - The immigration department said Wednesday it was conducting a character assessment of Snoop Dogg, including his criminal history, as Australia considers whether to grant the rapper a visa for a concert tour later this year.
AP - The immigration department said Wednesday it was conducting a character assessment of Snoop Dogg, including his criminal history, as Australia considers whether to grant the rapper a visa for a concert tour later this year.
AP - At any given time, J.J. Abrams has an awful lot on his mind: He's the producer, writer and co-creator of ABC's hit series "Lost," and the writer and director of the return of "Star Trek" to the big screen.
 New York Daily News | Housewives star announces split BBC News - Michael Bolton and Desperate Housewives actress Nicollette Sheridan have ended their engagement, they have announced. The pair first started dating in 1992 and spent five years together. Another Love Story Ends: Nicollette Sheridan and Michael Bolton Nicollette Sheridan, Michael Bolton end engagement |
 Tampabay.com | Bad Shakespeare is good for laughs Buffalo News - By Stephanie Schomer NEWS CONTRIBUTING REVIEWER High school teacher Dana Marschz (Steve Coogan) is a washed up actor who tries to save the school’s drama program with an irreverent musical, “Hamlet 2.” Sometimes, a little nonsense goes a long way. 'Hamlet 2' is a tragedy of a parody, set to music Hamlet lives again, at least once |
 BBC News | Rap star Dr Dre's son found dead BBC News - The 20-year-old son of rap star Dr Dre has been found dead at his family's home in Los Angeles. The body of Andre Young Jr - who was named after his father - was found by his mother. Dr. Dre's Son Found Dead Dr. Dre's 20 year-old son found dead |
AP - It was only her first day as an "American Idol" judge, but already Kara DioGuardi seemed part of the dysfunctional family.
 Seattle Post Intelligencer | Shannen’s Take on Her 90210 Reunion with Jennie People Magazine - The original 90210 kids long since left high school, and apparently they’ve left the old high-school drama behind, too. Shannen Doherty, the most notoriously difficult member of the original cast, says things are positively pleasant between her and ... The New 90210: Divas & Drama Needed Garth and Doherty Patch Up Problems On '90210' Set |
Is Lindsay Lohan's closest companion about to pen a tell-all tome?
"Well, she's certainly telling friends she's planning to write a book," said a source close to club...
The Tintin tag-teaming has begun.
Steven Spielberg is still slated to direct the first of three planned films about the mystery-solving Belgian reporter and his trusty fox terrier Snowy,...
If there's anyone who needs to watch his step these days, it's R. Kelly.
The R&B star, who was acquitted of child pornography charges in June, has denied any knowledge of...
The Summer Olympics didn't finish as big as it started. The Hills didn't start as big as it finished.
Here are the broadcast and cable ratings highlights for the week ending...
Whitney PortPhoto: Getty Images
OTR Exclusive: The Hills' Whitney Port Joins Diane Von Furstenberg, Invades New York [NYUOTR]
Whitney Port Trades The Hills Drama for NYC [Pop Sugar]
Related: Whitney Port to Go to Diane Von Furstenberg? And Bring Cameras With Her?!
AP - "Fine Just the Way It Is" (Scribner. 221 pages. $25), by Annie Proulx: It was Annie Proulx's award-winning "Brokeback Mountain" a tale of love between two Wyoming cowboys that became an Academy Award-winning film.
While taking a bow for her opening-act stint for the Jonas Brothers in Chicago, singer and Camp Rock star Demi Lovato does an impromptu stage dive, as in, she dives into the stage (about 25...
Photo: Patrick McMullan
AHHHRRH! Omigod! Ruuuu-fus. I can't see! I can't see! Rufus!"
The timbre implied some decades of bourbon and unfiltered cigarettes, yet the accent, slack-jawed and non-rhotic, recalled Paramus Park Mall. The unholy racket was coming from a figure about four-foot-nine, pressed up against the velvet rope, despite repeated admonitions from large security men. She wore a teal velour hoodie up top and athletic shorts below, with bright sneakers and striped tube socks. Actual tube socks! There was a large hair clip growing out of the side of her head.
She was, no doubt, a Fan, and she dominated her end of the carpet as surely as the idling limousines did the other. Her combustions were decidedly external, though: elbows were thrown, as were near-fits. She was here first and she was the biggest Gossip Girl fanatic, and so no, she won't step aside or stop yelping in your ear! Someone was going to have to answer for the news that neither Dan nor Nate nor Chuck would be showing up tonight, and oh, by the way, could the reporter from OK! Magazine snap a few shots for her with this digital camera?
Crap. Yes, it's true, that was totally us. We're so embarrassed. But like, you know how it is when you spend the weekend drinking Red Bull mixed with Pixy Sticks and watching the last season of Gossip Girl over and over in preparation for the SEASON TWO OPENER WHICH IS, OH MY GOD, MONDAY. Anyway, we tried to lie and save face by telling Liu we were teenage girls from Florida, but everyone at the office recognized the tube socks immediately. So busted.
OMFG! Henri Bendel Bash Attended by Gossip Girl Cast—and Gossip Girl Herself? [NYO]
Related: Happy Birthday, Blake Lively; The Full Extent of Intel's 'Gossip Girl' Mania
AP - "In the Land of Invisible Women" (Sourcebooks Inc. 464 pages, $24.95) by Qanta A. Ahmed: Most job contracts don't include mentions of the death penalty, but when Dr. Qanta A. Ahmed agreed to a new job in a Saudi Arabian hospital she became subject to the laws of that country which, as she writes in her memoir, can include decapitation.
And if a busy bee like her can buzz out to party during the busiest week on the New York fashion calendar, we can certainly find the "jeans necessary" (she's so funny, too! How does she do it?) to make it over and clink glasses with her, even though we'll be running to a million other things that evening. Like the Zac Posen show. Gosh, we hope he starts on time.
Photo-illustration: Getty Images
A World of Imports in TV's New Season [NYT]
Carmen Electra really isn't all about sex. Really, she isn't.
At least that's what the former Baywatch babe wants us to believe.
Electra insists that you won't...
Photo: Getty Images
“No, we're much better at texting than dancing,” we explained. He kept trying to get us out to the floor, but we assured him we wanted to steer clear of Flo Rida (and local politicians). But then he leaned in, put his hand on our neck, and asked us if we wanted to use his floor pass. Shocked and intrigued, we wondered what exactly we might have to do to get the most coveted item at the convention. He laughed and said, “It certainly won't be dancing.” Our initial reaction was to shriek, “We are most certainly not that girl!” But then we thought about the early morning, the long line, and the inevitable denial of that one thing we want most in the world. Plus, Hillary would be speaking! But in the end, we made an awkward escape. Planned Parenthood hadn’t inspired us like that.
The pairing of airheads like Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher was probably enough to have the critics sharpening their knives, but the Ken-and-Barbie stars of What Happens in Vegas actually manage to hit the sweet screwball mix of sass and goofiness. Even the Punk'd-averse may find themselves seduced by Kutcher's himbo antics for the first time.
Yes, even this is cooler than you are.Photo: Getty Images
This made us feel old not only because we don't even know who Ninjasonik or Japanther even are, but also because when we look at all the pictures of the kids jumping around between the I beams on the bridge, all we can think is: OH MY GOD THAT IS SO DANGEROUS-SEEMING. Thank goodness we are wearing Depends, because we totally just made in our pants.
NINJASONIK ON THE WILLIAMSBURG BRIDGE [Vice]
Japanther on the Williamsburg Bridge [Sound of the City/VV]
• Oh dear! Kelly Osbourne was spotted heading to the doctor today with a bruised-up face. We've always kinda liked the girl, hope she's OK. Now let's speculate about what...
E! Online - Sure, it lasted for 17 days (not including soccer)—but still!
Janice DickinsonPhoto: Getty Images
The media is currently eating up the fact that there’s a transsexual model on the upcoming cycle of Top Model. Oh, please. I did it on my show first with Claudia. But you know what? There’s not going to be a moment where Tyra’s not going to knock me off, so I’m not bothered by her.Is there really room for a transsexual in the industry?
I think that there’s room for a gorgeous transsexual if he or she has her shit together. Transsexuality is gorgeous. My Claudia was gorgeous, and that bitch had a beat on her walk that could blow anyone away.Have you ever received a little note or phone call from Tyra to congratulate you on the success of your show?
Are you fucking kidding me? Hell, no. Never. Nothing … Believe it, baby. Nor did I ever get a note or call thanking me for helping to put her show on the map. Whatever. She’s not my favorite person.
Aw, that's sad. We've missed Dickinson since she departed from ANTM after season four. Twiggy couldn't come close to being as loudmouthed and wacky as her. So for old time's sake, we pulled a video of Janice Dickinson's best ANTM moments of yore, after the jump.
Dickin’ Around [HX via Socialite Life]
Courtesy of BBC America
Needless to say, we did the obligatory Facebook research. Even the main characters' friends seemed like people we'd want to spend time with, like Smithy, who the New York Times says "fears that Gavin may soon renege on their commitment to sample and rate every beer in the world." Yes, the show sounded like something we might actually stick with for the long haul, and by noon, we were cursing ourselves for not setting the TiVo and having trouble concentrating on insignificant things like the Democratic convention. Now the anticipation is absolutely killing us. Soon we'll find out if Gavin & Stacey is truly as wonderful as we imagine. (We haven't even picked out an outfit for tonight! We're thinking sweatpants and a T-shirt.)
But what if, what if it's not perfect? What if it's … boring? How did the title duo wait six whole months to find out if they were meant to be? We're going crazy after, like, five hours.
Review: 'Gavin & Stacey' [LAT]
English Lad, Welsh Lass and Cheeky Pals [NYT]
In This Is Your Brain on Music, onetime punk-rocker and famed producer Daniel Levitin put words to something we all intuit — listening to your favorite song is akin to smoking some really good sh*t. Now, music’s one-man PR team is back with The World in Six Songs, a book that aims to prove that music doesn't just make us feel good, our brains use it to organize society. From opera to Abba to Zappa, Levitin elegantly reveals how songs build friendship, joy, comfort, knowledge, religion, and love.
Courtesy radiomaru
"Bear Creek Apartments" [radiomaru.com]
Earlier: Exclusive Comics Excerpt: ‘Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together’
Exclusive Comics Excerpt: ‘Chiggers’
Photo: Flickr
Other nuggets from the survey, which tracks the über-luxury market:
• 71 co-ops priced between $5 million and $10 million sold between January and June this year, up from 45 during the same time span last year.
• Townhouse sales between $5 million and $20-plus million are flagging, however (down from 56 to 51), if only for a bit; of those that did find buyers, 39 percent were located downtown. Still on tap: a $75-million townhouse at 22 East 71st Street and a $59-million mansion, on the former Spence-Chapin campus, on East 94th Street.
• Trophy condos are doing quite well, thank you very much: sixteen units over $20 million changed hands in the first half of 2008 compared to eight around the same time last year.
Positively radiant.Photo: Getty Images
• United States gymnasts Nastia Liukin, Shawn Johnson, and Alicia Sacramone will be the new faces of CoverGirl. Go girl pow(d)er! [Chic and Untroubled]
• Here's a peek inside the Coty Lab in New Jersey where they make all their fragrances and color collections. [M.I.S.S. Crew Blog]
• Sad news for beauty company Hard Candy. They're downsizing their line, making only gift sets rather than all of their shadows and glosses. [Fashionista]
SKIN
• German men spend an average of 30 minutes a day on beauty routines while German women spend an average of only 26 minutes on beauty routines. So there. [WWD]
Homeboy's an expert in nuclear proliferation.Photo: Getty Images
So we open with Lauren and Stephanie chatting in class (“Take out your magazines,” the teacher instructs. Ah, fashion school). Stephanie tells Lauren about her upcoming birthday party; Stephanie doesn't know if Spencer and Heidi will come (yeah, we bet she has no idea), but she's betting they won't since they haven’t spoken in weeks and “drama follows them.” There’s that title-worthy zinger. “I don’t know if it follows them as much as they chase it,” counters Lauren. She follows this with a pensive L.C.-patented stare. She’s deep, you know.
Lauren then goes on a lunch date with Doug, who’s looking hotter than he did last week. But oh dear, he sounds even dumber: “You look nice today. You look pretty. Gorgeous. Love it. Love the white,” he tells Lauren, all in one breath. Relax, dude, or your head will surely explode. And then, what do you know, his pretty head explodes from the effort of this conversation! But worry not, for he is coming to the birthday party. That's Doug's role on this show: Attend Lauren's friends' awkward birthday parties.
On to Whitney: At a People’s Revolution work dinner, Kelly Cutrone is being her awesome self, meaning she’s humiliating employees on national television, wearing some sort of black shmatte, and frowning. As usual, she targets that annoying chick Jessica. “It’s MY company,” Kelly says, as if that’s in question. Whitney looks scared shitless. Don’t worry, Whit, you won’t be fired — Kelly’s ties with MTV run too deep.
Stephanie’s party is under way, and the bar looks severely underpopulated, probably because every location on this show has to be cleared before filming. Which is good for shopping but sucks for a party. Lo is wearing, um, a costume from the sixties? She looks like a drunken divorcée from Mad Men. The exaggerated swept bangs, the too bright red lipstick … yuck. She and Audrina have a bitchy exchange, which does make us laugh. ‘How are you?” asks Lo. “I’m good,” says Audrina. “I’m glad we talked,” says Lo. Heh. And then — surprise, surprise — in walk Heidi and Spencer. Everyone leaves, including Brody, Frankie, Lauren, Lo, and Doug. Spencer has balloons and laughs maniacally when he sees everyone “bounce.”
The next day, Spencer and Stephanie fight once again about her friendship with Lauren. We are so bored of these scenes. The highlight comes when Spencer equates his feud with L.C. to the conflict between Iran and Israel. And HA-HA-HA-HA. Dude knows his current events, so long as he can relate them to himself.
Back at People’s Revolution, Kelly is yelling at everyone. Why, why, why doesn’t this woman take the time to bleach her teeth? This is MTV, for chrissakes. Their ashy color makes her look positively European among the Angelenos. She tells Whitney that she fired Jessica and that Whitney is her replacement. She tells Whit that she’s going to be bi-coastal, and there’s the spinoff news you all were hoping for.
We end with a school scene with Lauren and Stephanie, talking about trustworthiness or something. We don’t know; we fell asleep in the middle of it.
Next week: Lauren dumps poor Doug, and Whitney gets a hot new boyfriend. It better be good, or we’re going on strike.
And now, The Unequivocal Hills Reality Index:
As Real As Lauren Is Awkward
• Lo’s misadventures in retro fashion. She thought that look up all by her lonesome.
• Spencer’s thinking that his life’s troubles rival the problems of the Middle East. Of course he does.
• Whitney’s fear of Kelly. We’re scared of Kelly THROUGH THE TV. Imagine how poor Whit feels.
As Fake As Heidi’s Chin
• Stephanie’s party planning. She (and MTV) obviously knew the Pratt-sters were coming.
• Doug’s dialogue. There’s a tiny microphone lodged in his ear, feeding him wooden lines like, “How is things with you and Audrina?” Though we bet that grammar error was all his own.
• Whitney’s promotion. Sorry, Kelly, you’re not letting a 23-year-old run your L.A. office, and you know it.
Photo-illustration: Everett Bogue; photos: Getty
Images
While the Tim Burton–Joel Schumacher series comfortably situated outlandish supervillains like the Penguin and Poison Ivy in a bizarre universe that was art-directed to within an inch of its life, in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight Nolan has favored a more recognizable urban environment with actual, y’know, exteriors. He avoided flamboyant villains in Begins, and deliberately set up the Joker as an aberration in Knight — a psychopath whose face paint even freaked out his fellow criminals. But how many more times can comic-book grotesques be finessed in this way? Why would a woman dress up like a cat in the Gotham City of Dark Knight? Why would a guy wear a jacket covered in question marks? And could a short, chubby dork really take on Christian Bale’s high-tech Batman while wearing a monocle? How far can Nolan take his gritty conceit before, like poor Joel Schumacher before him, he edges the series into self-parody?
Earlier: Latest Made-Up Rumors Suggest Cher Will Play Catwoman in Next Batman Movie
Sure, heteros like Blair and James get their own bike path.Photo: Getty Images
Melrose South: One of the first buildings erected when the Bronx transitioned from farmland to city, mansard-roofed 614 Courtland Avenue has been beautifully rehabbed after years of decay and is back on the market, part of a citywide trend that's nearly wiped out vacant buildings. [NYT]
Ozone Park: Some goyim, including Mormons, cleaned up a historic Jewish cemetery overrun with weeds, but it's still so messy that the grandson of a couple buried there is suing the graveyard's operator. [Queens Crap]
Park Slope: This "urban" neighborhood is actually a fussy suburb where homeowners bicker over tiny property infractions, writes this author, in a piece that might have had a soupçon of weight in 2002. [NYO]
Sunset Park: At Industry City, a waterfront complex of circa-1900 industrial buildings, artists live in huge spaces for next to nothing, create "sound art," and gather to watch arty films like gay-porn classics. All with sweet smells coming from the nearby flavor-making factory. Can someone nab us a rent-stabilized unit up in this joint? [Brooklyn Based]
We've heard of jumping the shark, but shooting it?Photo: Courtesy of Showtime
Doug, meanwhile, is desperate to get laid. He move into a divey apartment with Maria, the Mexican immigrant, who learns what a sleaze this sad, tall, angry baby man is when he begs her to see even just "one boob." "I spent 25 years with a woman who wouldn't put out. I deserve some. I smuggled [Maria] here," he whines to Andy. It's too gross to be funny, but thankfully Maria has Doug's number: "He is a terrible man," she tells Andy. "He is a criminal and wants to make me his whore. He has warts on his genitals."
Speaking of calling out criminals, traffic through the maternity-store tunnel continues, and Nancy is no longer able to turn a blind eye. After asking her hunky mayor what's coming through the tunnel — pot, heroine, girls? — she is told to go back to her children. But the problem with that is Nancy's kids are out of her control — Shane learning life's facts and Silas busy with his now-booming “sandwich” business. So she makes a call. Till, the FBI dude whom Nancy once threatened to rat out for corruption, shows up while Nancy sits in some garden, swathed in a straw hat and playing with a Rubik's Cube. "Thanks for coming," she says.
There being two episodes left this season, this rat-out comes at an opportune time: Will the Botwins stay in Ren Mar? Will Nancy continue her lascivious affair with Mayor Esteban? Will Celia, sequestered away in a low-rent rehab facility (the fancy place worked out that her insurance belonged to a deceased Korean woman and shipped her out) come to Nancy's rescue, as Nancy did her when Guillermo's men caught Celia snooping outside the warehouse? Can Nancy's conscience be sustained without the death of a major character, or at least another relocation? And if it's the latter, where won't the Mexican mafia find her?
Eve, left, and Mary in their Grand Street store. Eve's wearing a Yumi Kim top — it's her favorite print.Photo: Melissa Hom
How do you choose the items you stock in store?
Mary: When we go to an appointment, Eve and I try everything on. Our appointments take so long because we literally want to make sure each of us has worn it. We say to each other, "Do I want to own this? Do I want this in my closet?" And most of the time, it's no.
Mix and match! Vintage meets new.Photo: Melissa Hom
You wouldn't buy anything on sale?
Mary: Well, that also comes with maturity. Not being in that sale mentality that's like "Oh my God, $200 down from $500, I'll get it!" or squeezing yourself into something at the Barneys sale.
What trends do you personally like for fall this season?
Mary: This fall we're really feeling the sexy bohemian. I can't get enough of beautiful crochet tops — they keep selling out.
Eve: Every fall, I'm such a sucker for the heavy plaids, the woolens, the sweater coats, chunky wool.
Are there any trends you wish would go away?
Mary: Short shorts are driving me nuts. The butt cleavage, ugh.
Eve: I'm not a big fan of the eighties thing. If you're decked out in flash, off the shoulders, with the Ray Bans and the skinny jeans, I'm sick of seeing it.
Who are your favorite designers?
Mary: I love Marni. I love Anna Molinari. And I love the sleek graphic of Helmut Lang.
Eve: I love Alberta Ferretti. I love Prada, but I don't love everything she does. But I love the mixing of the prints. And Lanvin, how can you not?
Who are the designers you wear the most?
Eve: Yumi Kim I love.
Mary: She designs her own prints, and she just gets it. Prints are so tough. There are just so many terrible prints.
Necklaces make the outfit.Photo: Melissa Hom
What item do you really want to buy right now?
Eve: I need an upgrade coat, I think, for commuting and whatnot. I've been wearing my puffer. I do not feel chic.
What's one item that you can't live without?
Mary: A wonderful, versatile handbag. Most of the time you have to spend a little.
Eve: A really good vintage necklace. It can be the plainest outfit, but if I'm wearing one of my necklaces, it can instantly transform it.
Lindsay and Sam.Photo: WireImage
Lindsay & Samantha Double Date – with Their Moms! [People]
Shen Jingdong's Soldier Family (2008).Photo: Courtesy of ChinaSquare
Photo: istockphoto
Color Copying and Color Printing — The use of color copying and printing dramatically increases our copying and printing costs. Color presentations are unnecessary for internal purposes; therefore going forward color copying and printing should only be used for client presentations. Also whenever possible, presentations should be printed double sided to reduce unnecessary paper usage. Over time, we will be removing color copiers and printers from the locations where they are not essential for purposes of preparing client presentations.
Wait: They're hiding the color copiers? To curb illegal printing in glorious color? What will they take away next? The free Equal packets? It's an outrage! Except: Citi is up by a smidge. It's already working!
Related: In Tough Times, Wall Streeters Forced to Make Humiliating Lifestyle Changes
Citi Holds Back On Color Copying [Dealbook]
Clockwise from top left, Trench by Andre, bow clutch by Alexis Mabille, denim jacket by Olympia Le Tan, Colette room fragrance, T-shirt by Artus X Peter Arkle, Oakley/Colette sunglasses, hoodie key ring by Anne-Marie Herckes, Delhomme/Collete scented candle, Asics/Colette sneakers.Photo: Courtesy of Colette
Colette x Gap Products [Selectism.com]
Earlier: Colette Pop-up to Arrive in Fall, Courtesy of the Gap
Kassovitz on the set of Babylon A.D.Courtesy of 20th Century Fox
French-born director Matthieu Kassovitz has seen his stock fall quite a bit since his first feature, 1995's buzzy, electrifying La Haine. Though he's appeared as an actor in Munich and Amélie, the last movie he directed was 2003's Halle Berry flop Gothika. We thought that this week's Vin Diesel sci-fi epic Babylon A.D. — a sure-fire August Movie if ever we saw one — would represent yet another stumble in the career of a talented director. But thanks to Kassovitz's angry interview with AMC's SciFi Scanner blog, it might actually represent the end of his career.
"I'm very unhappy with the film," Kassovitz tells AMC:
"It's pure violence and stupidity." he admits. "The movie is supposed to teach us that the education of our children will mean the future of our planet. All the action scenes had a goal: They were supposed to be driven by either a metaphysical point of view or experience for the characters … instead parts of the movie are like a bad episode of 24."
Kassovitz blames 20th Century Fox's lawyers, plus the studio for editing his longer cut down to "a confusing 93 minutes." "Babylon will probably have a good first weekend," he says, "but the second weekend we're going to lose 30%." (This is actually wildly optimistic — we bet it loses 105 percent.) "I should have chosen a studio that has guts," he says. "Fox was just trying to get a PG-13 movie. I'm ready to go to war against them, but I can't because they don't give a shit."
So where does Kassovitz go from here? Back to France, we imagine — it's hard to imagine an American studio giving him anything to do now. Directors whose shitty sci-fi movies are nickeled and dimed into shittier sci-fi movies are supposed to shut up and take it, Matthieu! This is America!
Masters of Scifi - Babylon A.D. Director Mathieu Kassovitz Describes a Disastrous Production [SciFi Scanner/AMC via Defamer]
"Yaaay!"Photo: Getty Images
Near the Sheraton we met James, a 19-year-old from Boulder who, like his fellow protesters, was wearing a bandanna over his nose and mouth. The bandanna's purpose, he said, was threefold: to promote solidarity, to protect against CS gas, and to prevent identification. (“The police like to take pictures of us and put our images in their databases and there have been numerous cases — I could list them — where people have been charged with crimes that they didn't necessarily commit because they'd made themselves known.”) Other than the bandannas, though, the protest didn't seem to have any organizing principal. James and his friends weren't with any group; they'd just come to meet fellow anti-capitalists. Their goal: to create a new society that eliminates greed and corruption. It would've helped if James and his friends had actually found their comrades. But they'd gone on a side trip to counter-protest a protest by the right-wing anti-immigration group the Minutemen, and by the time they rejoined the original protest, they couldn't find it, and the cops were blocking their path. So they stood in the intersection and did charades, “just three of us, maybe five people at most,” surrounded by twenty journalists and around 100 armed officers.
They're not smiling anymore.Photo: WireImage
Scientists from 220 Laboratories filed a complaint in Los Angeles against the duo and the manufacturer, claiming that Kate and David stole a secret ecofriendly "Vanuatu Complex" formula from 220 Laboratories and then took it to a competing laboratory for cheaper manufacturing. And when the products popped up, they looked a little too similar to the 220 Laboratories original pitch.
The exact charges include seventeen causes of action, such as fraud, misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, breach of confidence, and more. So far Hudson denies the charges and even knowing the scientists making these claims. She's shocked! Well, of course she is. Her Golden Girl reputation is on the line. Because unless this debacle settles out of court, it's one big tangled mess for her image. And that's never a cute style.
Kate Hudson's Hairy Situation [E!]
Apparently the upcoming U.K. comedy series The Wrong Door is a Robot Chicken–esque sketch show in which very short little segments incorporate sci-fi special effects into everyday life. There are a ton of promo clips up on YouTube, some of which are great and some of which are lame. But when they're great, they're really, really great, as in this clip in which an office drone abuses his workstation, with unpredictable results. Look for Ben Silverman to import this to NBC in ten minutes flat.
The Wrong Door: If Terry Gilliam Directed Transformers as a TV Variety Show [Gizmodo]
Joe ROBINETTE!! Biden.Photo: Getty Images
It's my grandmother Biden's maiden name. It's French. And it goes back a long, long way. Allegedly the Robinettes came over with Lafayette and never went home. I don't know that. We can't guarantee that.
Wait a second, wait a second. They “came over with Lafayette and never went home”? The middle name is bad enough, but were Joe Robinette Biden’s relatives … illegal aliens?
Photo: Getty Images
The first day of a convention is always hard to rate in isolation; its effectiveness can only clearly be gauged in the context of what follows. But four things about yesterday jump out to me as worthy of remark.
1. As everyone, including even the stony-heartedest Republicans, agreed in its aftermath, Ted Kennedy's turn at the podium was an emotional tour de force. When Kennedy was diagnosed with brain cancer earlier this year, it seemed improbable that he would make it to Denver, let alone appear onstage, looking so strong, not the least bit diminished, and deliver a message so lucid and impassioned. A different set of doubts surrounded the speech delivered by Michelle Obama, but those too were dispelled. As with the Kennedy oration, the reaction to Michelle's performance was almost universally positive. In the face of persistent, insidious Republican efforts to portray her as an angry, elitist, unpatriotic, honky-hating radical, she humanized herself as a daughter and a mother, grounded herself in the working-class experience, displayed humility and empathy, and presented her husband in terms diametrically opposed to the GOP caricature of him. Between her and Teddy, you could hardly have asked for a pair of more successful opening-night set pieces.
2. So why in God's name were these two speeches an hour apart? Especially when what came between them was basically pretty awful. Senator Claire McCaskill, a terrific person and promising national politician, turned in a themeless pudding that fell flat in the hall, and former Republican congressman Jim Leach was so thuddingly dull that he sucked the air right out of the room. Memo to Team Obama: Pacing matters, especially on TV.
3. The most common critique of the first night was that it was insufficiently harsh toward McCain, failing to systematically strafe him as a putative perpetuator of the George W. Bush regime. Making this argument most forcefully and publicly were two old Clinton hands: James Carville and Paul Begala. Count me among those who believe this criticism is misplaced. Not that James and Paul are wrong that such strafing needs to occur. But they should remember as well as anyone how important it was to introduce Bill Clinton to the country at the 1992 convention — how essential were the biographical, Man From Hope elements of that conclave. The Obama people know from their internal polling that their guy remains a mystery to much of the electorate, and as long as that lack of clarity remains, it provides fertile ground for the Republicans to prey on with their insinuations and lies about his exotic, vaguely un-American otherness. And the same is true of Michelle. As former Clinton communications czar Howard Wolfson put it on his spanking new blog, Gotham Acme, "Last night was not a night for policy or attacks on John McCain. It was instead an effort to shore up the image of Michelle Obama and help Americans become comfortable with her as First Lady."
4. The question of just how unified the party will be coming out of Denver remains a very open question — much more open than many expected even a few days ago. The performances of Hillary and Bill the next two nights will go some way toward answering it, but not all the way. A goodly chunk, maybe 20 percent, of Hillary's supporters are bitter-enders; others, however, are open to Obama but remain less than convinced. The question is whether, beyond all the idiotic rantings of the PUMA faction, the hopemonger's people have taken up this task with sufficient seriousness in the months since Obama claimed the nomination — or whether they underestimated the challenge that they faced in winning over Hillary's people. I'm not alone in thinking increasingly that the answer might be the latter. One top Obama adviser said the same thing to me as we trundled out of the Pepsi Center last night, adding darkly that the miscalculation might end up costing the Democrats the election.
Debbie Phelps. Yay!Photo: Getty Images
Phelps Plugs Chico's [WWD]
AP - The Verve, "Forth" (On Your Own)
Jerry FordPhoto: Patrick McMullan
Jerry Ford, 83, Man Behind the Models, Dies [NYT]
AP - "Soccer Dad" (Skyhorse Publishing. 288 pages. $22.95), by W.D. Wetherell: In the first chapter of this loving remembrance of his son's final year of playing soccer on a top-ranked high school team, W.D. Wetherell says he assumes that anyone reading the book "already understands and values soccer."
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