AFP - Tibetan exiles and supporters staged a symbolic 12-hour fast for peace in Tibet on Saturday as Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama joined in from his hospital bed.
Reuters - British soul singer Amy Winehouse pulled
out of a Paris concert at short notice on Friday after falling
ill at home in London, her spokesman has said.
LONDON (Reuters) - British soul singer Amy Winehouse pulled out of a Paris concert at short notice on Friday after falling ill at home in London, her spokesman has said. Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Aug 2008 | 7:27 am
Dani Carlson was pleasantly floored when her governor was selected as a vice-presidential candidate. Photo: Mario Tama/ Getty Images Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Aug 2008 | 5:55 am
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- "When I wrote the lyrics to "Right Now" I intended them to inspire people to not sit around and wait for something... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Aug 2008 | 2:54 am
the stabbing deaths of three women, including a former girlfriend of actor Ashton Kutcher, police said Friday. Michael Gargiulo, 32, of Santa Monica has been in custody since July for... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Aug 2008 | 2:34 am
DNA evidence has linked an air conditioning repairman to the stabbing deaths of three women, including a former girlfriend of actor Ashton Kutcher, police said Friday. Michael Gargiulo,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Aug 2008 | 2:03 am
NEW YORK - Republican presidential candidate John McCain's surprise choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate has given a brief, upbeat biography of her the kind of boost that Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Aug 2008 | 1:34 am
lyrics against Fidel Castro of public disorder Friday, but freed him after dismissing a more serious "social dangerousness" charge that could have brought four years behind bars. ... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Aug 2008 | 1:29 am
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Music Group, Inc. a corporation incorporated in the State of Delaware (GMG Delaware) today submitted an offer to the Trustee... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Aug 2008 | 12:44 am
LOS ANGELES - Fuel prices have grounded an unexpected frequent-flyer: Diddy. Sean "Diddy" Combs complained about the "too high" price of gas and pleaded for free oil from his "Saudi... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Aug 2008 | 12:30 am
HAVANA (Reuters) - A Cuban punk rocker whose songs have ridiculed the Cuban government was fined for public disorder on Friday after prosecutors reduced a more serious "social... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Aug 2008 | 12:27 am
Sean "Diddy" Combs is done with his $250,000 round trips.
In his latest video blog, shot while boarding a regular old American Airlines flight, the hip-hop and fashion mogul...
Reuters - Over 38 million Americans tuned in
for television coverage of Barack Obama accepting the
Democratic nomination for U.S. president on Thursday in what is
believed to be the most watched convention speech ever.
The Phelpsian frenzy shows no sign of slowing down.
When Michael Phelps shot an impromptu cameo for the new season of Entourage this week, the HBO comedy's fab four got a taste of...
AP - Guillermo Arriaga's directorial debut, "The Burning Plain," opens with a wide shot of a trailer ablaze in the New Mexico desert. While the landscape appears barren and exposed, it is concealing secrets that drive the story.
Well. It's been a tumultuous week here at Daily Intel. Between the excitement surrounding the Democratic National Convention, our feverish, near-erotic anticipation of the new season of Gossip Girl, and the multitude of tequila shots we had to do to kill the pain over the departure of Vulture's wonderful editor Dan "Crazylegs" Kois, we are practically on the verge of expiring. But we'll need all the power in our hearts for Monday night's return of the BEST SHOW EVER, which is why we're taking off a little bit early today and will remain in repose through Labor Day. We'll be back on Tuesday with our usual juvenile jokes, lopsided rants, and, of course, The Recap. In the meantime, here's a hilarious, Intel-comment-inspired picture from the Weekly World News, above.
Even a football stadium couldn't hold Barack Obama's audience.
An Oscars-esque 38.4 million watched Obama's speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, Nielsen...
Reuters - Young Jeezy balances commercial/pop
aspirations with core hip-hop sounds on "The Recession,"
getting a lift from DJ Toomp, Drumma Boy, Midnight Black and
longtime collaborator Shawty Redd on this sonically enjoyable
follow-up to 2006's "The Inspiration." Previously criticized
for strange rhymes and repeating lines, Jeezy delivers some
great turns of phrase on songs like "Wordplay," where he
answers claims of glorifying drug dealing with the couplet,
"They want wordplay and I got bird play." Considering Jeezy's
admission that he's a bit uncomfortable making female-skewed
songs, the blend manifests itself most clearly on "Taking It
There," with Trey Songz crooning a romantic chorus. While fans
may gravitate more toward cuts like "Vacation" and "Yeah,"
"Taking It There" could wind up being the track Jeezy needs to
cement himself as a mainstream artist and not just a favorite
of rap aficionados. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 29 Aug 2008 | 8:55 pm
Reuters - One might think that after 20 years
of melodic mastery, recently elusive Sarah McLachlan might be
out of surprises. Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews | 29 Aug 2008 | 8:53 pm
Front Page: Exec will join Weber's Senator Entertainment -- Mark Urman is ankling troubled indie ThinkFilm to join Marco Weber's Senator Entertainment U.S. as president of his newly formed distribution company.
Front Page: Terry Christensen also found guilty -- A jury has convicted former Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano and entertainment lawyer Terry Christensen of federal wiretapping conspiracy charges.
We've probably mentioned a few times on this blog that we love Posh Spice. She's fierce, sassy, has way adorable kids and usually we can get behind whatever crazy outfit she pulls out of...
The invite to Barker's next show. Just look at all the sponsors!Photo: Courtesy of Think PR
It seems like just yesterday that Nigel Barker made inroads in hearts across the nation with his baby-seal photography exhibit. But this Fashion Week, Barker will unleash his edgy side with his next exhibit at Bloomingdale's called "Moon Warriors." Moon. Warriors. What is a moon warrior to Nigel Barker? It's a "couture-clad" mannequin sitting on a Montauk beach in the dead of winter for hours on end. Allow the press release to explain:
The shoot occurred in the bitter cold of February, which required that the subjects be mannequins because living models wouldn't be able to physically hold a pose for the needed time in the winter weather … In order to expose a photo properly using only moonlight, the shutter speeds must be up to an hour long.
Like the seal shoot, he tackles the elements, yet again! Why Barker is not the face of North Face yet, we know not. For a taste of the "surreal, avant-garde fashion images amid the dreamy moonlight," click on, fashion warrior.
Chelsea: Due to soaring rents, The Antiques Garage, on West 25th Street on Sundays since 1993, will move to Hell's Kitchen (West 39th Street, specifically) starting November 30. [Crain's]
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park: Look at one of the two new babydoll lambs at the Queens Zoo. Babydoll lambs are the oldest known purebred sheep in the world, weighing in at 40 pounds. But more importantly … they're cuuuuuuuuuute! [Queens Gazette]
Inwood: City officials announced that they would finally repair the 215th Street step-street (a street made up of steps!), something locals have been begging for since 1999. And that's good, because our friend Mark just moved up there and we walked the stairs and they are a hot Inwood mess! [Streetsblog]
Park Slope: A guy having a beer on his own stoop after Biden's speech the other night was busted by the cops with a $25 ticket, because apparently a stoop is not considered private space. But a group of moms doing celebratory lines of coke off their stoop after Obama's big speech were just given a fist-bump. (Note: A portion of this post is a lie.) [Brownstoner]
Prospect Heights: When the freeze on alternate-side parking rules ended here July 14, one car — a really cool 1975 Alfa Romeo — just sat there. And began to collect tickets. Until someone scrawled on them: "The man is dead." It's true: Romanian immigrant Vincent Banescu, 85, the car's owner, was indeed dead. But who will get the cool car? [NYT]
Richmond: Here on Staten Island, a 3.5-mile bike path being built through LaTourette Park is destroying the wetlands it runs through. Plus, the builders uncapped a small landfill. Euch! [SI Live via Queens Crap]
West Side: The relentless sun coming through the all-glass walls of this grad student's seventeenth-floor condo overlooking the Hudson forced her to install $12,000 automated shades and ruined her $20,000 European sectional sofa. That is so tragic to happen to a grad student! How is she going to pay her student loans now? [Curbed via WSJ]
Nail polish to the rescue!Photo:Courtesy of China Glaze
NAILS
• China Glaze is a little late on the whole superhero theme. But the color names make up for missing the boat. They include Secret Peri-Winkle, Code Orange, Agent Lavender, Golden Opportunity, Revolution, and Pink Underground. [All Lacquered Up]
SKIN
• Ice Elements' new skin-care creams contain the "Antarcticine" protein, which they say is found in Antarctic glaciers and aloe vera. Let's face it — it's not going to be easy to find a glacier to rub your face on. [WWD]
• The Becca brand teamed up with Bakel Technology to create a new skin-care range of serums that are fluid, which they call groundbreaking technology. Really? [Cosmetic News]
HAIR
• Some say Sebastian accepted defeat when it allowed grocery stores to stock its hair-care products. But now it's created Sebastian Professional, which could restore its reputation. [eBeauty Daily]
Living in New York means living in denial of a few things: We choose to believe that no one has recently urinated on our subway seat, that our apartment is actually a pretty decent size, and that rats confine themselves to Dumpsters and subway tracks. If something happens to disrupt this vision, we find a way to distract ourselves or ignore it. ("It's probably soda!" "It's a great neighborhood!" "Those are bunnies in the bushes!") That's what the Brooklyn Paper is doing today. Someone told them that on summer weekend nights, Prospect Park becomes like one giant Country Buffet for rats — and not the cute kind like in Ratatouille, but the horrible big fat ones who eat leftover scraps from picnics and then piss and shit all over the place. Does the Paper muse on how utterly gross this is for the people that fully lie in the grass and eat and touch things in the park?
No. Instead of going around screaming "Oh my God there are rats everywhere never go to the park move to Connecticut you have rat shit on your hands!" they decide to focus on the puppies. It's the pets who are in real danger, they say, since rat poop carries leptospitosis, which can cause liver and kidney problems in animals. And so they go to Dog Beach and try to drum up outrage on behalf of dog owners. It works, a little. And then one sage pet owner puts things back into perspective with a somewhat existential response:
Glynn Sullivan, out walking his dog Zora, had also never heard of the deadly disease, but remained unfazed. “She eats s— in the street,” he said. “That’s probably going to kill her too.”
Also, we're all going to die. And we all totally have urine on our shoes right now.
In these slower-than-slow final weeks of August, during which the American media focus its exclusive attention on the political conventions and allows its entertainment writers to publish all the ridiculous nonsense they want, it can be hard to distinguish between the factual reports and the made-up ones. Can you guess which of this week's top stories were total fabrications?
Front Page: Singer's participation adds credibility -- After Robert Greenblatt got the idea to turn the 1980 film "9 to 5" into a musical, one thing loomed heavily over him: The Dolly factor. Through a series of what he calls "weird connections," he was able to assemble a significant creative team -- albeit without the composer of the original theme song.
FINANCE
• Michael Phelps made waves at the JPMorgan tower yesterday as he took the stage at the bank's corporate headquarters to field questions from the firm's employees. This should come as no surprise seeing as JPMorgan did say it would favor precious metals such as gold in 2008… [DealBook/NYT]
• If the book Damn It Feels Good to Be a Banker wasn't in-your-face enough already, now it's being accompanied by a promotional hip-hop music video depicting the age-old battle between bankers and consultants. [DealBreaker]
• Lehman Brothers is axing another 1,500 employees from its payroll. This makes for the fourth round of bloodletting this year. [NYT]
MEDIA
• Meanwhile, no heads are rolling at Bloomberg over the Steve Jobs obituary snafu. [NYP]
• Should members of the media have been cheering and screaming "woo" for Barack Obama during his speech last night? [Briefing Room/Hill]
• There seems to be a golf-cart theme permeating the media this week. Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael Wolff got to tool around in one with Rupert Murdoch, and Luke Russert was seen being zipped around the DNC in one this week. Will next week's vehicle of choice be a Segway? [NYO , NYP]
REAL ESTATE
• A 23-year-old graduate student hates her $1.5 million apartment because the floor-to-ceiling windows let in too much light. In fact, she recently was forced to spend $12,000 on motorized shades that she keeps lowered during the day. The horror! [WSJ]
• Bianca Jagger is set to battle the State Court of Appeals next week over her Park Avenue apartment. [City Room/NYT]
• Infrastructure Buzzword Week continues as Barack Obama sort of mentions that the country needs to invest in new roads. [NYO]
LAW
• Amid a U.S. Justice Department probe, Google is moving ahead with its search-advertising partnership with Yahoo. Has Eric Schmidt not heard the song "I Fought the Law and the Law Won"? [Reuters]
• Why is it that so many lawyers have mid-career meltdowns? [ABA Journal]
• Predicting how many associates a large law firm will need is tricky business. [Law.com]
But I'm afraid it's time to move on. People keep asking me, "Where are you going now?" and then they look uncomfortable when I say "Nowhere!" and laugh merrily. But it's true! I turned down the hopeful entreaties of Paul Dergarabedian — even when he raised my salary offer and explained that one number was larger than the other number — and considered, but passed, on a job as Ben Silverman's personal tiger groomer. So I'm heading off into the sunset unencumbered. Well, I have to write an entire book by January. I'll also be contributing to Vulture and to the magazine every once in a while. Whatever, my plans are boring. What about your plans? What are you up to this fall?
Thanks to Lane for making me laugh every day, and thanks to Everett and Lori for making even the worst posts look good. Thanks to Ben, Jessica, Sara, and Nick for excellent editorial support. Thanks to my fellow bloggers, especially Chris and Jessica, the two finest gay men I have ever met. Thanks to all my other New York and nymag.com colleagues, plus all those people at MenuPages who I'm sure are very nice. And thanks to our enthusiastic readers, who never hesitate to praise a post or explain why we are morons who don't understand the majesty of caterwauling amateur David Cook.
After the jump, see video of my proudest-ever moment at Vulture. Bye!
Not everyone thinks Tom Ford is the greatest thing since reruns. It's true! Yves Saint Laurent head designer Stefano Pilati said Ford was nothing compared to the late great Yves Saint Laurent himself. Ford took over designing the label in 1999 when the Gucci Group purchased it. Pilati served directly under him at the time as his design deputy. He tells Lynn Hirschberg in The New York Times Magazine coming out this Sunday:
“Tom had a very precise vision of the company that didn’t challenge women … Tom is talented but not gifted. That’s the way he managed the business. Tom would say: ‘We can’t do this silhouette because she looks fat.’ Or, ‘Oh, no — women don’t like this fabric; we can’t use it.’ That mentality was something to learn but was so far from my way of thinking. Why do you want to be safe? I’m more like: Why don’t you wear gray flannel for an evening dress? I find that fantastic! Not Tom, never.”
So we guess they won't be summering together next year.
1. TV on the Radio, "Dancing Choose"
Tunde Adebimpe channels Rob Base as much as Billy Joel on this new track from their upcoming record, with results that are good enough for us to excuse the god-awful pun in the title. [Pretty Much Amazing]
2. Lou Reed feat. Antony Hegarty, "Caroline Says, Pt. II"
Antony (sans Johnsons) enhances Reed's terminal crustiness with some welcome grace notes on this performance from his 2006 show at St. Anne's Warehouse, soon to see release as both an album and a documentary by Julian Schnabel. [Pitchfork]
3. AC/DC, "Rock 'N Roll Train"
Pterodactyl-voiced Brian Johnson screeches about how this train is "running right off the tracks," which gives you an idea of what a disaster this new song is. [AC/DC]
4. 88-Keys feat. Kanye West, "Stay Up (Viagra)"
See, Kanye has this, um, friend who can't, you know, "stay up." The limp beats and flaccid horn sample here probably aren't going to be of much help. [Jump the Turnstyle]
5. The Pipettes, "The Shoe That Fits"
The Pipettes wear a hole in the central metaphor of this vocal-only mix of a brand-new song. Let's hope the finished version is a bit more wearable. [Zeon's Music Blog]
Let's face it, 'The Hills' hotties are the Hollywood 'it' girls. Every promoter wants them at their parties and every designer wants them to wear their stuff. But it seems Heidi Montag, known for her cheesy love affair with Spencer Pratt, is not included. Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Aug 2008 | 5:12 pm
Not quite a spin-off (though that's what The CW is calling it), and not really a remake or a sequel: This is the new "Beverly Hills 90210," albeit with a fresh look and a shorter name -- "90210."
If it feels like Christopher Buckley turns out a new book every time you finish his last, well, we suppose it’s because he has no shortage of targets. His newest work of political satire delivers a president nominating a sassy TV judge to the Supreme Court and hoping to be defeated in his run for a second term. Throw in a senator who quits Congress to play a president on TV and some deadpan footnotes and you’ve got yet another send-up of inside-Washington absurdity.
Adam Hochfelder, with apologies to Perez Hilton.Photo: Patrick McMullan
There are actually a lot of ways in which Adam Hochfelder, the real-estate developer who was arrested yesterday on charges of bilking banks, family, and friends out of over $17 million, is a sympathetic character. He's a precocious Long Island whiz kid, the son of a garment manufacturer, who started out too young, played too high-stakes a game, and thus found himself, inevitably, in way over his head. He's a father of two who once told a reporter, "I'm addicted to my kids."
But it was not that addiction that Hochfelder's lawyer chose to evoke at his bail hearing yesterday. Rather, he tugged on the judge's heartstrings with another, more stirring image:
"He's completely blown out his nose," Hochfelder's lawyer Paul Goldberger told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Daniel FitzGerald.
Bail was set at $1 million. Way to set the tone, guy. No one's going to think about how he snorted away millions of dollars of people's money now.
"No longer in her sister's shadow, Ali Lohan is rapidly becoming the nation's hottest solo act," trumpets Supermodels Unlimited magazine. What? You've never heard of SU because you don't subscribe and read it every night before you fall asleep at night? Well, now you know it's at the apex of all things pop culture you need to know about for your next cocktail party. The bi-monthly landed Ali for its July/August issue — her first solo cover. Inside they have more pictures of the burgeoning superstar including her posing with a giant pink chewing-gum bubble eating half her face. They even managed to steal a few moments with the singing cherub for a Q&A. She doesn't address Lindsay's sexuality, but she does reveal she loved working with Lindsay on her self-directed music video "Confessions of a Broken Heart" because "she told me what to do and what not to do so it was a very cool experience." Riveting. Also, she's thinking really hard about what to name her new album because it's a "very big deal." Deep. And she talks briefly about being a Ford model as a child, adding that she still enjoys modeling "to this day." Hear that, magazine editors? Don't get too excited because you'll have to fight us for her.
Sure, it's hard to imagine that a dance musical about Fela Kuti — Afrobeat hero, mischief maker, and singer of "Expensive Shit" (a thirteen-minute song whose chorus is "Because the shit does smell!") — could connect with Broadway audiences, as Michael Riedel seems to be claiming in his column this morning. Would Circle in the Square or the Roundabout really be able to make a profit on this show, despite Riedel saying they've been sniffing around 37 Arts, where Fela! opens Off Broadway next week? Could Fela! actually "shake up the terrain" on Broadway? Oh, if only we lived in a world where that was possible! But Bill T. Jones directs, Antibalas performs the music, and star Sahr Ngaujah is apparently totally great. So who cares! We'll totally see it.
If you like the slick sixties art direction of Mad Men, you won’t be disappointed by the forties finery of Married Life. The director of the terrific Forty Shades of Blue returns with a tense love-quadrangle drama — and a bunch of mid-century furniture. The cast is just as sturdy. Patricia Clarkson and Chris Cooper play a couple on the edge of divorce, while Rachel McAdams and Pierce Brosnan play the cutie-pie and slick schemer who threaten to make a bad situation much worse.
"Oh, every day there's something. Yesterday somebody sent me a picture of this crazy pig with a monkey face. So, yeah, there's always something." —J.J. Abrams on where he gets his science ideas [Popular Science/PopSci]
"Imagine Don McLean growing up in Cleveland in the '70s and if he was black, with a little bit of Cat Stevens twisted into his words and a little bit of Richie Havens — that's the thought behind it." —Terrence Howard on his new album, Shine Through It [Reuters via Yahoo]
"I was a little nervous at first, to be honest with you. With the subject matter and singing, 'You make cash giving head, and you use it to buy Sudafed,' did I really want my young fans hearing me say that?"—Kristin Chenoweth on her appearance in the upcoming musical spoof of Intervention about a gay man with a crystal-meth addiction [E!]
"They're in the same vocal area. I just apply the baritone. Eeyore requires a lot more air; he's actually deeper in another way. It's a chest resonance more than anything else. He never yells, and he doesn't laugh. Neither one of them laughs. Optimus doesn't laugh. They chuckle, but they don't laugh." —Voice-over actor Peter Cullen on the similarities between Optimus Prime and Eeyore [Ain't It Cool News]
"[M. Night Shyamalan] gave me the worst advice he could have ever given me. He said, 'After [The Happening], you can never hold a gun again. You know that, right?' I said, 'Are you crazy?' He said, 'I'm serious, don't ever hold a gun again.' And I said, 'I don't know about that, man.'" —Mark Wahlberg prepares to fill the rest of his career with roles that involve guns [Movies Blog/MTV]
Pretty much everyone agrees: Barack Obama's acceptance speech last night was a historic moment. Most people would also probably agree that the 84,000 people cheering him on were a sight to behold. Beyond that, there's less to agree on. It should be expected that a political speech of this magnitude would divide the political commentariat on the basis of their ideology. We've ordered, roughly, our pundits' reactions from the most glowing to the harshest.
• Taegan Goddard calls it "the greatest political speech I've ever heard. He was better than Reagan and better than Kennedy." [Political Wire]
• Andrew Sullivan gushes that "[t]his is a remarkable man at a vital moment" and "[w]e are in his debt." [Atlantic]
• Greg Sargent writes that Obama "proved tonight — again — that he's one of the few most gifted public communicators of the last generation," but he did it "by not excelling in soaring rhetoric or delivering a speech that will be remembered for the ages." [TPM Election Central]
• Joe Klein calls it "the perfect speech for a skeptical nation." He was "tough," and came across "not as an orator, but as a plausible chief executive." [Time]
• Michael Crowley says Obama "delivered another wonderful speech that will long be wistfully remembered" and "demonstrated an ability to give an address that combines policy seriousness with rhetorical uplift." [Stump/New Republic]
• Kevin Drum calls it a "helluva speech." Obama came out with "an iron fist in a velvet glove. Or is it a velvet fist in an iron glove?" Either way, Obama "put a serious dent in McCain's ability to continue campaigning with dumb soundbites and too-cute-by-half innuendo." [Mother Jones]
• John B. Judis has "heard Barack Obama deliver speeches better, but in this acceptance speech, Obama did exactly what he needed to do to set the stage for the fall campaign." It was "one of the most intellectually elegant speeches I’ve heard" and should "do Obama and the Democrats a lot of good in the weeks ahead." [Plank/New Republic]
• Walter Shapiro doesn't think it was the "most eloquent or boldest speech of his career," but his "gift" is that he makes it "all seem natural" that he "rewrote the history" of a nation's struggle with slavery, segregation, and racism. [Salon]
• Josh Marshall says the speech was "very strong" and "[a]bout exactly what was needed." The tone wasn't "defensive or outraged," but "assertive contempt." [TPM]
• Franklin Foer was reminded "of the Beijing opening ceremony" because "[i]t outdid every version of the event that came before it." It will make Obama "much harder to caricature." [Plank/New Republic]
• John Dickerson writes that "[e]ven when Barack Obama deliberately tries to tone it down, he can send an audience over the moon." Even though he went for substance over rhetoric, it worked. [Slate]
• Noam Schieber finds it "remarkable ... that he managed to stay so optimistic while throwing elbows." But it was "still well within bounds for a man selling hope." [Stump/New Republic]
• Craig Crawford thinks Obama finally "defined change instead of just calling for it" and "played street-smart offense and defense in this speech." [CQ Politics]
• Jonathan Cohn writes that while Obama's 2004 convention speech was more of a "rhetorical triumph," last night's "was far more provocative — and, because of that, it may prove far more important." But at times it was "unwieldy," "pedestrian," and "tempered by a more naked agenda — namely, making swing voters believe Obama stands for them." [Plank/New Republic]
• Melinda Henneberger writes that the speech "was a loaded triple-bacon burger of substance." It was brave of him to call drilling what it is: a stop-gap measure, and it was also brave to bet "that voters really are smart enough and grown-up enough to want the common-sense approach they always say they want" on hot-button topics like abortion, immigration, and gun rights. [XX Factor/Slate]
• Peggy Noonan thinks it was maybe a little too dark, with Obama looking "stern, and somewhat indignant, certainly serious throughout." He "left a lot of space for Mr. McCain to play the happy warrior next week" and "left the Republicans a big opportunity to wield against him, in contrast, humor, and wit, and even something approximating joy." [Declarations/WSJ]
• Megan McArdle was "disappointed," calling it "basically standard Democratic Convention Boilerplate" that could have come from "every Democratic presidential candidate in living memory." [Atlantic]
• Ross Douthat claims the "speech had good lines and good sections, but for the most part it felt surprisingly banal and jury-rigged, and it suffered throughout from a failure to cohere around any single theme or rhetorical style." [Atlantic]
• Jonah Goldberg doesn't think there was, substantively, "anything new to it." His "shots at McCain were ill-advised," and "as the details of the speech are picked apart and compared to his actual record ... his lead in the polls will fall apart." [Corner/National Review]
• Linda Chavez calls the speech a "downer": "all about the pain" and "very short on specifics on how he’ll cure it." [Contentions/Commentary]
• Jim Geraghty maintains that the "speech was predictable, it was implausible, and it was strikingly, inexplicably, angry." [Campaign Spot/National Review]
• John Podhoretz proclaims that the speech was "dreadful" and "terrible," without "a memorable sentence." [Contentions/Commentary]
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.
Bayreuth festival chief Wolfgang Wagner (L) and his daughter Katharina Wagner arrive at the "Festspielhaus" in the southern German city of Bayreuth in July 2008. Wolfgang Wagner, agreed this year to step... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 29 Aug 2008 | 4:05 pm
Guests arrive for in the southern German city of Bayreuth in July 2008. According to the statutes of the festival, founded by Richard Wagner in 1876, control must remain in the hands of composer's descendants,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 29 Aug 2008 | 4:05 pm
When he was 15, Michael Jackson wondered in song if he'd grow up to walk on the moon. In a way, he did.
Now 50, Jackson is an unrivaled icon—a 13-time Grammy winner with more...
• Gossip Girl stars Blake Lively, Taylor Momsen, and Leighton Meester will attend Lorick's spring show on September 4, although the girls already saw some of the collection since they, like, wear it on the show. [NYO]
• The EcoChic campaign will kick off with a group runway show at the Museum of Natural History, with designs by Donna Karan, Ralph Rucci, Carmen Marc Valvo, and Vena Cava. Lauren Hutton, Alexandra Richards, and Patti Hansen will walk the catwalk. [WWD]
• Japan Fashion Week kicks off next Monday in Tokyo, the "international birthplace for trends." Several young designers participating are critical of the Tokyo fashion industry, citing an "inconsistent and unpredictable show calendar" and "conservative retailers." [WWD]
• Threeasfour will unveil a five-piece capsule collection of swimwear during their spring 2009 runway show. [WWD]
• Karl Lagerfeld is helping with costumes in two upcoming Chanel biopics, Chanel et Stravinsky and Coco Avant Chanel. He'll personally oversee re-creation of Chanel costumes for the latter, which stars Audrey Tautou. [Fashionologie]
• Tim Gunn on Miley Cyrus: “Miley Cyrus is just a little too tarty, forgive me. I don’t want her to look like she’s going into a convent school, but it’s just a little too much for a 15-year-old. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear she was 25.” [MSNBC]
• Playboy.com has revealed an online men's style guide with an "all-American" theme. We hope their style tips are better for men than they are for women. [WWD]
• J. Lindeberg, the Stockholm label, will relocate some of their operations to America to focus more on Stateside clientele. [Fashionista]
• Wilhelmina modeling agency, which counts Fergie, Brandy, and Natasha Bedingfield among its star clients, is going public. So get ready to rijigger your portfolio. [Fashionista]
• Rachel Zoe: “I am very pro eating and I am really a Jewish mother at heart. If you ask anyone in my personal life I’m a food pusher. I don’t let people leave my house without eating or taking a goodie bag. I am very in support of healthy women and healthy bodies.” [Thee-Biz.com]
• If you care to see old and new head shots of editors-in-chief that go in the front of fashion magazines, here's a whole slew of them. [WWD]
John McCain has confirmed that his running mate for the presidential campaign is popular young Alaska governor Sarah Palin. NBC has confirmed that the 44-year-old staunch conservative, who is pro-life and pro–gun rights, will be announced shortly in Dayton, Ohio. Palin has very high approval ratings in her state and describes herself, like John McCain, as a "maverick." She'll likely be embraced by the conservative base, but the Obama campaign has got to be rubbing their hands at the moment. She's the same age as Barack and has two years less experience on a national level, which will deflate the McCain campaign's arguments that Obama himself is too green to be elected. Plus, in the vice-presidential debate, she'll have to face off with Joe Biden, who has been working on foreign policy in the Senate nearly as long as she's been alive. Conservative pundit Pat Buchanan has already called it the "greatest political gamble he's ever seen." This is about to get exciting!
MCCAIN PICKS PALIN FOR VP [NBC]
Lindsay Lohan is hoping a tragedy will bring her family together.
Richard Lohan, Lindsay's paternal grandfather, died Thursday after a battle with colon cancer, which, according to...
Speechwriter turned satirist Christopher Buckley has made a career of skewering Washington culture with novels — Thank You for Smoking, Boomsday, White House Mess — that wickedly lampoon the people and powers that make up American politics. His latest work, Supreme Courtship, out next week, imagines a well-intentioned, slightly dopey president who nominates a Judge Judy type to the nation’s highest court. Buckley spoke to Vulture from his vacation home in Maine about the genesis of the new book; the difficulties of mocking Bush, McCain, and Obama; and why he'd rather wield an ax than attend the conventions.
When your wife answered the phone, she said you were busy "being manly"?
I was being manly. I was chopping wood. It's my one time of the year I get to be manly.
Sorry to take you away from that! So, you're known for your satire, but at least one reviewer has said that this new book isn’t a satire; it's a farce.
I disagree. I think I know the difference between satire and farce at this point! It's what I do! Well, whatever it is, it retails for $24.99. And that's no satire.
I think they said that because the plotline seems pretty plausible.
I've always said that the hardest part of writing satire or farce in America is that you're in competition with tomorrow's front page of USA Today. It's very hard to improve on American reality.
So why did you decide to take on the Supreme Court?
I live in Washington, and I've sort of moved around the institutional checkerboard: the White House and Congress; a little Pentagon; a little CIA. I thought I'd give the Supreme Court a little jab. The sign that Truman had on his desk, "The Buck Stops Here," well, the buck actually stops at the Supreme Court, which would be a less elegant motto. It's the ultimately consequential institution, and I thought it would be worth a shot. And the only way I could figure out of getting in was this slightly nonsensical but not altogether impossible way. Nothing is implausible in America.
In the novel, you've got the president successfully nominating a TV judge to the Supreme Court.
You don't actually even have to be lawyer to sit on the Supreme Court, according to the Constitution. There have been a couple of justices who were never judges, like Rehnquist. But it's probably never going to happen. One of my favorite characters is the president, dear old Donald Vanderdamp, who's really kind of a sweetie. He's trying to do the right thing, and he just wants to get home to Wapakoneta.
I feel like Bush probably feels the same way right now.
Yeah. I don't know about his future. He's young — 62. It's difficult right now to imagine him in the senior-statesman role. It's hard to imagine him writing long, thoughtful books. I imagine he'll be out of sight, a little out of mind.
As a satirist, has his administration been…
Satisfactory? Yes. If I wrote a scene in the book where the vice-president shot a lawyer, wouldn't you say, "Oh, come on"? If I wrote a novel that recapitulated in every factual detail the Lewinsky saga, you would probably say, "Oh, come on, you're overreaching." Bush was funny up until 9/11. One of my theories of why people started to not like Bush was because after 9/11 you couldn't make fun of him.
What about McCain and Obama?
Well, as satirical material, Obama presents, as we used to say back in school, problems and opportunities. You have to be careful because he's black and certain things are off limits. But also, the idea of the son of a Kenyan goat herder becoming president? McCain is easier to make fun of. I've always found it easier to make fun of Republicans, because I'm one of them. I get shit about it: "Why are you going after our own people?" Well, someone has to.
Does any part of you wish you were at the convention?
Not one molecule. I'm sitting here with an ax in my hand, looking at blue herons, hummingbirds, and we've got an American eagle, ospreys, cormorants, and loons. To quote the Paul Simon song, "I get all the news I need on the weather report."
Lindsay Lohan's father is at it again, telling The Billy Bush Show that her relationship with gal pal Samantha Ronson is "toxic." Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Aug 2008 | 3:30 pm
I promised you euphoria and that's what you're going to get from me. This was the third best day of my life, after my wedding and my daughter's bat mitzvah. I am full of joy and expectation, and delirious at the prospect of this man being president of the United States, of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream finally being realized.
After Wednesday night's seating debacle I arrived at Invesco Field early and staked out some prime floor real estate. The first couple of hours were sort of typical of what we've gotten used to — a lot of change and hope and yes we can. We cheered, and waved our American flags, and took pictures of ourselves with the lady with the funny hat. (Oh wait. That was me.) I spent much of the first couple of hours alternating between my seat with the delegation and another one (oh, what a bounty of riches) next to my husband and the difference between the two locations was striking. On the floor, even when we found ourselves a little bored, we still took up chants and danced to the music and greeted one another with the kind of hysterical benevolence usually reserved for a Phish concert. Up on the "special guest" level (no "honored" this time) people weren't dancing in the aisles. They sat in their chairs, half of them hunched over their BlackBerrys. They clapped, sure, but for the first couple of hours they were pretty stiff. Later on, however, they managed a series of downright stupendous stadium-wide waves.
Soon enough I abandoned Michael and his island of reserve for the festival going on on the floor. No way I was going to listen to Stevie Wonder without dancing on my chair. By the time he led us in "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," I was pretty much doing back handsprings up and down the rows. And that was before Gore took the stage and showed us what we could have been doing for the past eight years. (A great big thank-you to the diabolical duo, Ralph Nader and Antonin Scalia.)
Next to me on the convention floor sat one of my dearest friends, Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, former co-chair of Hillary's national finance committee, Hillary delegate, and current co-chair of Greek-Americans for Obama. Over the course of the last nineteen months, Eleni and I managed, by dint of near superhuman effort on both our parts, to keep our friendship intact. Tonight we danced, and cried, kissed and hugged, and cheered together until we lost our voices.
When Will.I.Am took the stage, things really got going. His music video came out at a critical time for all of us. We had just been knocked on our asses by the crushing blow of New Hampshire, and here was this thing that somehow managed to encapsulate exactly why we were there, why we were working so hard. I used that video for inspiration constantly over the following few months. Whenever I got discouraged, whenever I got sick of making phone calls or sending out pleading fund-raising e-mails, I clicked on over to YouTube and reminded myself why I was in this to begin with. Hearing it tonight woke all that up again.
I had my worries about the stage set — the right-wing slagosphere was so consumed with it — but I think we all realized its genius when twenty generals were arrayed in front of it, mute testimony to Obama's readiness to be commander-in-chief. Every mention of the members of our military got us up on our feet screaming, and while cynics might say that it was just a group of peace lovers trying to prove our tough national-defense credentials, I can tell you that it didn't feel that way on the floor. In a stroke of stagecraft genius, the campaign didn't distribute dozens of different signs today. Instead, they simply handed out tens of thousands of American flags. I've always had a certain ambivalence about the flag. I was that kid in seventh grade standing with her arms crossed over her chest during the pledge of allegiance, in mute protest of the military-industrial complex (I spent much of junior high playing Crosby, Stills Nash & Young, Pete Seeger, and Arlo Guthrie on my boom box). But not only did I wave my flag, but I was so wrapped in patriotic fervor that I found myself stooping over every three minutes to pick up flags that fell on the ground.
While on the previous three nights of the convention, I'd found the "real people" stories to be a little tiresome, contrived even, the speakers tonight were incredible. Not only were they absolutely genuine, but they spoke beautifully and rousingly. Is there a person in the country who isn't going to remember Barney Smith for the rest of his life? What a find. I'm in awe of this campaign.
But of course, all this was just buildup to the real thing. My tears started rolling when they played the video of Barack's life. His adorable, chubby baby pictures. The achingly lovely and sad pictures of his mother. It just breaks my heart, both for him and for her, that she died before she could see her son on that stage. I was still crying when he took the stage, from sheer joy, yes, but also because at that moment I came to the stunned realization that this had really happened. All that work, the fund-raising on MyBarackObama.com, the trips to Nevada, South Carolina, and Texas. The events and the essays and the knocking on doors actually worked. “Yes We Can” isn't just a slogan. It's true. What Barack has been telling us all along is true. When we set our minds to it, we can accomplish the impossible.
I'll leave the analysis of the speech to the political pundits, and just say that out on the floor it pretty much rocked our world. When Barack sternly and firmly told John McCain and his smear machine, "Enough!" it sent chills down our spines. I can barely put into words how proud, how inspired, how delirious with joy I was, perhaps because I'm writing this at 3:15 in the morning and I haven't slept more than a couple of hours a night in days. It's hard to express a coherent thought. But the truth is, there's no need for coherence. Barack gave us plenty of that. Tonight Barack Obama proved not that he's the best choice to lead our country out of this shit hole Bush and Cheney have dug for us, but that he is the only choice. As he and Joe Biden and their families assembled on the stage, we roared and wept, and when it was over, we turned to each other and said, "Now the work begins."
The producers of totally dull-sounding Broadway musical A Tale of Two Cities, which opens September 19, must be a little bit torn about this morning's Times story about the pleasures of seeing shows in previews. On the one hand, in a fall full of star-studded Broadway openings, this is definitely the most press Tale is ever going to get. On the other hand: How's the show going in its first week of previews? Everything running smoothly?
“Every time we see it, it’s so different,” said Adriana Devine, who describes herself as a “working actress, photographer, event planner, wife and mother of two” from Newark, Del. She was seeing “A Tale of Two Cities” for the third time…
Todd Michael Cook, an aspiring actor originally from Peoria, Ill., was standing next to Ms. Devine near the stage door after the performance. He had already attended five performances, even though the musical had been in previews for only a week. “I’ve never seen a show change so dramatically,” he said in a tone that made it clear that this did not displease him.
Anna Wintour will co-host a fund-raiser with Sarah Jessica Parker for Barack Obama during Fashion Week. You may recall the invitation for this fund-raiser misspelled Wintour's name, an embarrassment to a campaign so adored and supported by the fashion industry. But nonetheless, Wintour's rounded up an impressive lineup of designers to help with the event at Charles Nolan's studio. Donors in attendance will be treated to a runway show featuring designs by Diane Von Furstenberg, Zac Posen, Proenza Schouler, Narciso Rodriguez, and Marc Jacobs. Just like a mini–Fashion Week! And Michelle might be in the front row!
Marc Jacobs is a notable addition to the lineup since he was a big Hillary Clinton supporter (remember the T-shirts he made?) but now seems to have been swayed to Obama's side. The event will also give designers like Von Furstenberg a chance to showcase the clothes they designed in support of Obama, which will go on sale on the campaign's Website next month. Anyone want to loan us $10k for a ticket?
Front Page: Director takes Glory to the Filmmaker Award -- Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami is the winner of the 65th Venice Film Festival’s Glory to the Filmmaker Award, which honors eclectic masters of world cinema.
A German film studio has offered to negotiate a settlement with a dozen extras who were injured on the set of the Tom Cruise film "Valkyrie," despite their demands that the actor and his production company, United Artists, pay them $11 million. Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Aug 2008 | 1:47 pm
Oprah Winfrey is leaving the Democratic National Convention in Denver with the candidate she wanted, but reportedly without her eyelashes. Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Aug 2008 | 1:40 pm
Filming a (failed) sitcom and going to shows can wreak havoc on a girl, eh Parker?Photo: Getty Images
When we put out a call for questions about Fashion Week, we had no idea you guys would come through in such awesome droves — nor with such burning curiosity about Chad Michael Murray. Here's a sampling of answers that we hope cover the spectrum, and at least partly satisfy your curiosity about what is certainly the best job we've ever had.
Let's start with the obvious: What in the world do you guys wear?! How do you decide?
THE FUG GIRLS: February is a whole different beast — the main goal: to retain feelings in your extremities while trying to flag down a cab on a street corner — but for September, because you don't know if you'll get summer or autumn temperatures, we keep it simple and bring layers. You'll see us in a lot of lightweight dresses and heels, some from random shops in L.A.; some by Theory or DVF, etc., that we picked up during a weak moment at Bloomingdale's or at the Barneys Warehouse Sale; and very often from the likes of J.Crew, H&M, Zara, Banana Republic, and Club Monaco, because at the end of the day we're regular girls who have not won the lottery (yet). All of the aforementioned brands will definitely make an appearance at least once if not more, from at least one of us. To be honest, even if we sound like crazy overpackers (which … we are), we usually each bring double-digit dresses for the eight days — which allow for us to change midday if it rains or gets super sweaty, or we're going to a dressier evening show — and some skirts and tops for variety, as well as jeans to fall into toward the end of the week once we're too tired, blistered, and full of bagels to care.
Shoes are by far the hardest thing to pack, because they eat up space, they're heavy, and we LOVE THEM. We're suckers for a hot pair of stilettos, and — like a lot of women — shoes are our favorite thing to buy. With the rain-or-shine aspect of Fashion Week, we never know what pair we'll feel like wearing — which leads to a lot of, "I can cram ONE more in here, I think…" Cut to one of us sitting on a suitcase while the other struggles to zip it shut. The housekeepers at our hotel must bust a gut every time we come to town, because we often have to keep all the shoes lined up on top of the armoire. There's always a pair of boots in the mix, some flats, and then a gallery of heels in various heights. It is ALL about assuming you'll have blisters, and bringing shoes that hit your feet in different places. Our Fashion Week involves a lot of trekking across town, waiting in line, and occasionally standing at a show where you're squished in so tight you only even have room for one foot, so you'll want to be able to endure it without wishing someone would hand you a hand saw for easy foot removal.
As for accessories, we're both fairly minimalist — it's just so easy to drive yourself crazy with the specter of being surrounded by fashion journalists, so we're constantly reminding ourselves not to do anything we wouldn't do at home. Just because we're headed to Bryant Park doesn't mean we need to get wacky with hypertrendy scarves or arm warmers or fur corsets; we just want to get in and do our thing, and get out again and go buy a Diet Coke and gossip about what we saw. However, sometimes we do find ourselves wearing far more eyeliner than usual.
I'm a boring, sloppy law student with marvelous friends who have weaseled me into some shows for Fashion Week — Charlotte Ronson et al — and to put it very bluntly, I have NO IDEA WHAT TO DO OR NOT TO DO. General, expansive tips?
FUG GIRLS: The clothing thing used to stress us out, too, especially because oftentimes we are boring, sloppy bloggers who work in our sweatpants. But now that we've got a few of these under our belts, we've learned that the beauty of Fashion Week is how ANYTHING goes — pretty much every trend is showcased on somebody, so we try not to get too caught up in worrying about ourselves any more than we would in our daily lives. Here are a few keys to keep in mind:
1. Short of dressing up as a leprechaun or lighting yourself on fire, you'd have to work super hard to stand out as the best- OR worst-dressed person in the room. When there's a woman in a bedazzled fur turban making the rounds, your skirt is beside the point, so just relax and ogle.
2. Like we said: If you shop at H&M, Forever 21, J.Crew, etc., you're not alone. In fact, someone might be wearing the exact same thing you are, and unless you are a celebrity, that's okay — last September we saw four or five people in the exact same things we'd brought, and we went ahead and wore them too. After all, most attendees at Fashion Week aren't made of money, and tragically, wishing one-of-a-kind designer frocks grew on trees does not make it so.
3. In that vein, don't lose sleep over, say, whether you're carrying last year's bag. Sometimes we've got a purse from Target, sometimes it's Kate Spade, or anything in between (including, once, a purse one of us bought in Beijing that was a hilariously flagrant D&G knockoff but which held a LOT of stuff). Honestly, most of the time we don't even know which bag we're going to bring until the day we leave. The only rule for us on that score is this: Bring one that's big enough to hold a notebook, phone, camera, Band-Aids, possibly some deodorant — it's HOT in those tents sometimes — lip gloss to feel better when the rest of us is sweaty, and definitely some flip-flops.
4. We're serious: flip-flops. Love them or hate them, if you — like us — do not have a car and driver whisking you around town, they are an invaluable shoe swap when you need to schlep to another show, the subway, the sandwich shop, or your hotel.
Do people recognize you at the shows — designers, celebrities, Fug favorites like Chloë Sevigny — and if so, is it high noon at the OK Corral, or are you able to observe more unnoticed? Do you ever get people sucking up to you horrendously once they figure out that your pen is mightier than their leggings line?
FUG GIRLS: Nobody has recognized us that we know of — and honestly, we'd be surprised if they ever tried, not least because the cluster of reporters, photographers, and flashbulbs is so dizzying. We're pretty sure celebrities barely have a chance to check that they're in the right seat, much less wonder where those two cranky girl bloggers might be. And we're never backstage, so we don't interact with the designers.
Of all the celebrities you've seen at Fashion Week, were you surprised by any of their appearances? Whose skin looks like leather? Who has secret varicose veins and bunions? Who shows up all flaky from some chemical peel?
FUG GIRLS: Parker Posey looked a little rough last season, although having since seen her terrible short-lived Fox show The Return of Jezebel James, we can understand why. As former models go, we weren't blown away by Veronica Webb and Helena Christensen, both of whom mostly looked tired. However, most of them are all spackled up and dressed to the nines, so we're more struck by people who don't get sufficient credit for their hotness — for instance, in person, Aisha Tyler is six feet of awesome.
Is there an obvious presence of stylists attending with the various celebrities, or is it something that is kept hidden a bit so as not to spoil the illusion that said celebrity is responsible for her own look?
FUG GIRLS: It depends. Rachel Zoe, for example, attends a multitude of shows on her own, and we’re sure that other stylists do too, since scouting out the latest fashion is an integral part of their jobs. We’ve definitely seen celebrities seated with people to whom they whisper about items on the runway, and we assume at least some of these folks are stylists rather than just unfamous pals, especially since it seems like it'd be an uphill battle to pretend — especially around fashion journalists and other stylists — that anyone is working without a net anymore. But celebrities are often seated in a clump with other celebrities — as if to protect them from people who have never been in Us Weekly — so it’s hard to say how much of an entourage is there with them but sitting elsewhere.
How do you manage to recognize all of the socialites and minor celebs so well at the shows? I am always impressed by your eagle eyes!
FUG GIRLS: It helps that our day job involves looking at endless pictures of any chucklehead who attends the opening of an envelope. Eventually you realize that you’ve somehow memorized the faces of all kinds of different people. But we screw up all the time. We’ve “seen” everyone from Bruce Dern to a Cheetah Girl to Victor Garber before realizing we were totally smoking crack. We once thought Gwyneth Paltrow was at a show, and it turned out to be a dude. Nine-point-nine times out of ten — hey, nobody's perfect — if it's in our piece, we confirmed it, but in the moment we have seen some crazy, fictional things.
Based on last year's shenanigans, who are you most looking forward to observing and reporting on?
FUG GIRLS: As celebrities go, it tends to depend on who has something to promote, so it’s fun to anticipate which starlets will be making the rounds this time. We’re crossing our fingers that we'll see the new 90210 cast, and because we were stunned last September when Gossip Girl only ponied up Leighton Meester (who went almost unnoticed) and Taylor Momsen — who was late and missed her photo op — we’re keeping an eye open for them. Please let Ed Westwick show up in a turtleneck.
Do you ever get swag bags at the shows? And if so, what's in them?
FUG GIRLS: It varies and frequently is tied to who's styling the show or what new item the designer is promoting. For example, Derek Lam usually gives out a huge bag of Kiehl's because he often works with them, and Diddy put not one but FOUR of his fragrances — two huge bottles, two small — in a Sean John gift bag last year. Sometimes all seats have something on them, sometimes designers only put them in certain rows, and others don't do anything. Occasionally, the front rows will get more elaborate goodies than those behind it. For instance, Karen Walker almost always gives out bags with nail polish and a random item of hers (a scarf, fragrance), but one season, front-row dwellers also got sunglasses. Betsey Johnson usually tosses in some kind of animal-print thong, and Kimora Simmons gives out Baby Phat–branded notebooks full of color photos of her — and famously last year gifted the front row with a crazy-trashy Kimora doll. It's the only piece of swag we're crushed to have missed.
How does the rest of the fashion world react to Tyra and her Top Model coterie? Is she taken seriously or do people cringe, roll their eyes, and find a different seat?
FUG GIRLS: We've only seen Tyra twice, but she keeps it low-key and isn't stomping around trying to make the fashion shows all about her, which is a relief. She doesn't seem to run with her ex-contestants or current co-judges, so they're all treated separately and with about as much fanfare as you'd expect them each to command — with the exception of Nigel. People LOVE Nigel Barker. He is always graciously posing for a photo with somebody, and we'll never forget the time Miss USA hit him up for a business card.
There are many questions in this world, but none so mystifying as the walk of the male model. It is too stiff and weird for words. Like a woody object has intruded on a posterior orifice. Why on earth do they do that?!
FUG GIRLS: Honestly, we'll never understand why they stomp around like Eurotrash serial killers with wedgies. It's one of life's great mysteries. But at the same time, we wouldn't want it any other way: They sate our Fashion Week man-candy cravings with HILARITY. And nice abs.
I just saw a preview for the new season of One Tree Hill and I’m wondering — why is Chad Michael Murray on a show that is still on the air? Do you think he is one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse? I’m concerned that he is and that the other three aren’t far behind him.
FUG GIRLS: Chad Michael Murray probably is one of the four horsemen, and his terrible hair is one of the others. But the truth of the matter is, One Tree Hill is hilarious. This is a show where a major character murdered his own brother during a mostly unrelated school shooting/hostage crisis and then set his grave on fire (accidentally, but still); where a season-ending cliffhanger once involved four potential pregnancies and three potential drownings; where a girl has buried not one but two mothers, was kidnapped on her prom night by a psycho pretending to be her long-lost brother, and escaped thanks to the boxing lessons her real long-lost brother gave her; and where Sophia Bush plays a watered-down 21-year-old Diane Von Furstenberg type. So, while at least it teaches us practical things about fashion (like how you should never hire your nymphomaniac, drug-addicted best friend as a model, because she will totally steal from you), it's also the kind of soapy camp that turns CMM's coif and pained furrow into unintentional and invaluable comedy gold. Which may be the nicest thing we've ever said about him.
Ask a designer to tell you about his or her collection and they'll either wax on for hours or stare at you mutely. This season we tried something different: We asked for just one word to describe spring 2009. The resulting list is comical, endearing, puzzling, and enlightening.
Fashion Week isn't just about clothes anymore: It's celebrity theater and social blood sport too. Marc Jacobs fighting with critics and editors! Anna Wintour parading Roger Federer around the tents! Heatherette taking club-kid decadence to the runways! There have been many dramatic moments since nymag.com began covering Fashion Week around the clock two years ago; here are 21 of our favorites.
Ruben Studdard, the season two 'American Idol' winner, faces state and federal property liens after allegedly not paying close to $200,000 in taxes, BlackVoices.com reported. Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Aug 2008 | 10:55 am
A federal jury convicted former Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano and entertainment lawyer Terry Christensen on Friday of charges linked to the wiretapping of billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's former wife in a child support battle. Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Aug 2008 | 9:49 am
The hip-hop mogul is peeved he has to fly commercial airlines instead of his private jet because gas prices are too high. Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Aug 2008 | 9:24 am
Jennifer Aniston will make a return visit to NBC, the TV network where she became a breakout star on "Friends." Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Aug 2008 | 9:06 am
Gold medalists Michael Phelps, Nastia Liukin and Kobe Bryant, along with 150 other U.S. Olympic team members, will be on the season premiere of "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Aug 2008 | 8:31 am
Sean "Diddy" Combs is done with his $250,000 round trips.
In his latest video blog, shot while boarding a regular old American Airlines flight, the hip-hop and fashion mogul...
The Phelpsian frenzy shows no sign of slowing down.
When Michael Phelps shot an impromptu cameo for the new season of Entourage this week, the HBO comedy's fab four got a taste of...
Even a football stadium couldn't hold Barack Obama's audience.
An Oscars-esque 38.4 million watched Obama's speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, Nielsen...
We've probably mentioned a few times on this blog that we love Posh Spice. She's fierce, sassy, has way adorable kids and usually we can get behind whatever crazy outfit she pulls out of...
When he was 15, Michael Jackson wondered in song if he'd grow up to walk on the moon. In a way, he did.
Now 50, Jackson is an unrivaled icon—a 13-time Grammy winner with more...
Lindsay Lohan is hoping a tragedy will bring her family together.
Richard Lohan, Lindsay's paternal grandfather, died Thursday after a battle with colon cancer, which, according to...
Fashion Week isn't just about clothes anymore: It's celebrity theater and social blood sport too. Marc Jacobs fighting with critics and editors! Anna Wintour parading Roger Federer around the tents! Heatherette taking club-kid decadence to the runways! There have been many dramatic moments since nymag.com began covering Fashion Week around the clock two years ago; here are 21 of our favorites.
