AP - T.I. originally thought his voting privileges were revoked as a convicted felon, until he researched and learned that under a Georgia law felons are eligible if they're not currently serving probation or a prison sentence.
AP - Agent 007 received the royal stamp of approval, with Princes William and Harry attending the world premiere of the new James Bond thriller, "Quantum of Solace."
On his home court, LeBron James tried to swing some votes toward a guy who loves to play basketball nearly as much as he does. The NBA superstar hosted a free concert Wednesday night by... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Oct 2008 | 11:25 am
AP - The convicted felon suspected in the slayings of actress-singer Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew told police he is innocent but balked at taking a lie-detector test, a police official said.
Reuters - Those itching to see Daniel Craig, the reigning James Bond, before the North American release of "Quantum of Solace" on November 14 can catch him in a three-hour adaptation of "Archangel," a novel by Robert Harris. It airs Saturday on the Ion network.
CHICAGO - The convicted felon suspected in the slayings of actress- singer Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother and nephew told police he is innocent but balked at taking a lie-detector... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Oct 2008 | 9:54 am
Reuters - It seems almost quaint that Disney should trot a fantasy drama series, "Legend of the Seeker," into national syndication, in the faint footsteps of the 1990s phenomena "Xena: Warrior Princess" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys."
- Consolidated Revenues Increase 52.3% to $143.3 Million - - OIBDA(1) Increases 72.2% to $55.0 Million - - Net Income Increases 20.5% $21.0 Million - Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNewsEnter | 30 Oct 2008 | 9:45 am
AP - U2 frontman and activist Bono said Wednesday that next week's presidential election provides a great opportunity to "relaunch Brand USA" amid worldwide scrutiny.
AP - Novelist Mischa Berlinski, one of last year's finalists for the National Book Awards, is among the 10 recipients announced Wednesday of the Whiting Writers' Award for authors of "exceptional talent and promise in early career." Source: Yahoo! News: Entertainment News | 30 Oct 2008 | 3:47 am
The much-awaited Barack Obama advertisement aired tonight, and we can imagine a variety of responses based on a viewer's political persuasion, openness to infomercials and affection for the...
By the end of this commercial, every person in this photo will be touched. Photo: Getty Images
It made us laugh that Obama's 30-minute television spot began with the required "I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message" recording. The next 30 minutes were so sumptuous and flattering that if you fast-forwarded the whole thing to maximum speed, we wouldn't be surprised if you just heard the Democratic candidate slowly say, "I APPROVE OF MYSELF." The ad, crafted by Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim, combined lovely visions of Americana (Farm fields! Peewee football! Cafeteria ladies! Overweight men posing with cars! Shriners! Trains!!) with stories of the harsh reality of the economic crisis. Interspersed with personal stories told by suffering middle-class Americans were testimonials by prominent Democratic leaders. Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio, Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius, Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick, Virginia governor Tim Kaine, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, and senators Dick Durbin and Claire McCaskill alternately praised his skill and touted his middle-American credentials. Retired Brigadier General spoke about Obama's commitment to the military.
By the time Obama was saying, "I am reminded every single day I am not a perfect man," it was almost hard to believe him. But if you were caught up in the guitar chords and swelling tones, you probably were right where he wanted you when he switched settings from the pre-recorded portion in his wood-paneled mock Oval Office (seriously, wasn't that a little George Bushy?) to the boisterous Florida rally where he finished the presentation, live. All in all, if you're the kind of voter who enjoys the feeling of a candidate speaking patiently and directly to you, this ad may have pulled you over to the Obama camp. The portions where he spoke about his family were certainly touching and human. But if you are the kind of voter who is worried Obama's been a little bit presumptuous of late, we kind of doubt this changed your mind.
Front Page: Guild aims to redistribute $25 mil in residuals -- SAG’s launching a "Get Your Money" campaign, aimed at distributing some of the more than $25 million in "unclaimed residuals" it hasn’t given to more than 66,000 people.
Front Page: Studio acquires rights to graphic novel -- Paramount has acquired screen rights to "Agnes Quill: An Anthology of Mystery," a graphic novel by Dave Roman.
Front Page: Rapper to exec produce, write cop comedy -- Ice Cube is set to write and exec produce an hourlong buddy cop comedy for NBC. Universal Media Studios is behind the untitled project, as is Cube’s Cube Vision shingle.
(E! Online)
E! Online - Leave it to Katy Perry to celebrate her birthday with dead people.
David and Victoria Beckham are super, to be sure.
But Marvel Comics kingpin Stan Lee, who created Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk with artists Jack Kirby and Steve...
AP - Fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander sexually assaulted aspiring models after luring them to Los Angeles with promises of glamorous photo shoots and stays in a luxury hotel, a prosecutor said Wednesday in closing arguments of his trial.
Every day (or close to it) until November 4, a series of writers and thinkers will discuss the election over instant messenger for nymag.com. Today, New York Times columnist David Brooks and New York's Joe Hagan discuss pulling the lever for Obama, whether Brooks is worried about his brand, and the attempt to "excommunicate" the columnist from the conservative movement.
J.H.: Where are you?
D.B.: At home, in my luxurious office.
J.H.: Is that where all the columns get typed?
D.B.: If these walls could talk, what a tedious story they would tell. I've got an old photo of T. Roosevelt looking down in case I get out of hand.
J.H.: T. Rex! You must have been jealous of Edmund Morris getting to talk to him.
D.B.: I was, especially because I think Morris (whom I admire enormously) Obama-ized Roosevelt. He's more conservative than that piece gave him credit for.
J.H.: Ha. Well, let's cut to the chase here, David. How hard is it going to be for you to pull the lever for Barack Obama next week?
D.B.:Times policy forbids me from answering that question with any honesty. We're not allowed to publicly endorse. How do you want me to dodge?
J.H.: Having seen what McCain and Palin are made of in the last few weeks, the messages they've campaigned on and how undisciplined they've become, would you be unspeakably happy if they somehow won it at this point?
D.B.: I'm never unspeakably happy. Must be the serotonin levels. I do remember what kind of senator McCain has been — an outstanding one.
J.H.: Good enough. But are your friends in the McCain campaign still taking your calls? You called their V.P. a fatal cancer. You've recently become the second-most beloved conservative among liberal, latte-sipping New York Times readers (just behind Christopher Buckley).
D.B.: I've had contacts with both campaigns in the past week, though I imagine some of my dear friends in McCainland do not sing arias at the thought of me. I love the man. Dislike the campaign.
J.H.: Like a lot of people, I had great admiration for him in 2000. I'm reminded of that every time Jon Stewart pulls up a clip of him from that campaign and it's the polar opposite of what he's saying today. If he somehow won, wouldn't you question just who he really was at the end of the day? Or would you simply trust him to default to the man you love? And why would you have that faith?
D.B.: I think governing is more real than campaigning. He's taken the blows for doing the right thing. The legitimate doubts are (a) he's not that organized, and (b) he hasn't resolved his small government Goldwater instincts from his interventionist Roosevelt instincts.
J.H.: Do you think he has a chance of winning?
D.B.: A tiny chance. The polls do seem to have tightened, but he'd have to keep the momentum going for the rest of the week. States like Virginia and Ohio do look bad right now, and the Rocky Mountains. I should add that though I like McCain, the GOP in its disarray is nearly as unfit to govern as the Democratic Party would be in euphoria.
J.H.: That's interesting. It's funny, I took your column "The Class War Before Palin" as practically your resignation from the Republican Party. Like, the tent shrank and there's no room left for the eggheads.
D.B.: I think the party needs deep and fundamental rethinking. But I'm still a Burke/T.R. conservative.
Maybe I'm just rebelling against all the D.C. pseudo-populists who are trying to excommunicate me from the movement. The more they hate me, the more I want in.
J.H.: That's just sad, David. But I guess your hero, McCain, is still inside the tent! (And I'll bet he'd like to get out of there right about now.) I want to be gentle in how I put this, but, honestly, David — has there REALLY been any place for your like in that tent for the last eight years? Except when Bush-Cheney needed intellectual allies to justify the Iraq war? They've been appealing to "the base" for a long time.
D.B.: I guess I should be clear. I don't self-identify as a Republican. I'm not in that business. I do interview a lot of Republicans, ranging from Lindsey Graham and Lamar Alexander to John McCain, and feel that my views overlap a lot with theirs. Of course I also get that tingle from Rahm Emmanuel, Chuck Schumer, and Barack Obama. We Hamiltonians are homeless.
J.H.: Ah, but your NYT readers need to feel that you're a bona fide Republican so that when you agree with them, they can feel smug. Still, it's clear that the David Brooks brand hinges on people getting the idea that you're the house conservative. Although, with Kristol there, you're pretty much a socialist now. Does all this crisis in the Republican Party damage your brand? You can't start liking Obama TOO much.
D.B.: Funny that you ask. As I travel a country threatened by financial crisis and scarred by war, the fate of the David Brooks brand is uppermost on everyone's mind. That's why I'm hiring the Microsoft ad team.
J.H.: Okay, back to McCain then. Both Jon Stewart and Hendrik Herztberg of The New Yorker have pointed out that in 2000 McCain justified higher taxes on wealthier Americans. When a student asked whether that wasn't socialism, he said no. How does implementing a top marginal tax rate of 39.6 percent make you a socialist? And is it unfair to call McCain a hypocrite?
D.B.: The tax issue is the clearest of his flip-flops, and the most self-destructive. He could be running as the person to restore fiscal discipline in the face of a bipartisan spending barrage if he hadn't forfeited that ground. Lesson: Every political cave-in ends up hurting him in the long run.
J.H.: Even though he wrote two books and has had a camera trained on him for two years straight, Obama apparently still remains an enigma to conservatives. On the one hand, there's the lack of a full record; on the other, there's this fear in Palin's America that he's a Manchurian candidate harboring all manner of dark forces. You've met the guy: Does his unknowableness worry you?
D.B.: A little. I think he's basically a moderate, but I notice all my lefty friends believe he's a full-on lefty. I'm comforted by the fact that his advisers are very smart and sensible.
J.H.: So you don't think he's a secret Muslim socialist?
D.B.: No. More like a Christian Schachtmanite.
J.H.: Unlike when I read you at the Times, I couldn't just click on Schachtmanite and have the definition spring up.
D.B.: Left-wingers in City College circles and beyond used to be divided between Lovestonites and Schachtmanites. I can't remember what the dispute was over, except that it was bitter and the Schachtmanites were smarter.
D.B.: No redos in column writing. Has political skills, obviously. Though also some weaknesses.
J.H.: Did you see W.?
D.B.: Nope.
J.H.: I bring that up because I want to segue back quickly to what I was saying before, about intellectuals in the Bush years. I mean, you clearly voted for him, and you've written plenty of columns praising him and have generally been an advocate, although probably a more intellectually honest one. Now that we're at the end of the Bush years, are you and other conservatives kind of embarrassed at what you supported? I don't mean to be mean, but I'm just genuinely curious whether you feel a sense of having made an epic historical miscalculation? Or perhaps you just feel you were sold a bill of goods if you thought Bush would promote policies you believed in.
D.B.: If you go back, you'll find my columns about Bush have always — from 1999 on — been much more ambivalent than you suggest. But sorting all this out would take a lot more time and space.
J.H.: I was thinking about your views on Iraq. But anyway, you've been a great sport, so thank you. What's your column going to be about? Obama's infomercial?
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.
A piece of Jennifer Hudson's tragic puzzle may be in place.
Chicago police have recovered a gun that they believe was the one used in the shooting deaths of the Oscar winner's...
Front Page: Guild supports anti-discrimination efforts -- Two committees of the Screen Actors Guild have announced their oppostiton to California ballot Proposition 8, which would ban same-sex marriages.
We spend a lot of time talking about Michelle Obama, Cindy McCain, and Sarah Palin's clothes on the campaign trail, but let's turn our eye to Barack Obama. Perhaps you saw him speaking from behind the podium yesterday in Pennsylvania not wearing a suit. Gasp! Instead he wore a leather jacket and jeans. Although he had previously been spotted in faded mom jeans while riding a bike this summer, he sported dark denim yesterday. He was spotted in the dark jeans in mid-July, once in August, and again yesterday. "I got a hard time from all sorts of blogs who said I looked like Urkel," Barack said at fund-raiser in Chicago in June. Awww, he's self-conscious. Just like us! But we confess we found his mom jeans kind of endearing, because they're just the kind of thing normal nerdy dads would wear totally oblivious to the fact that they're anything but fashionable. But more important: Barack reads blogs about clothes? What if he's reading this right now?! Keep the sneaks, Barack! A spot of nerdy dadness looks good on you. Besides, it makes you relatable.
Times, they are a-changin. Photo: Courtesy of nytimes.com
This news is a little near and dear to our hearts. Our former home, 444 Madison, has finally found a new tenant: Burberry is moving its U.S. headquarters to our old stomping grounds in March. And with said move comes new signage. Yes, the famous New York logo atop the building will be replaced with three Burberry signs. The Times helpfully offers up a rendering of the new signage. In even more exciting news, the label may also open a retail store in the building, though the details aren't finalized. To which we say: Damn! We had to hoof it through throngs of slow-moving tourists to get to Saks and now tenants will just be able to go downstairs? Hmph. We'll console ourselves by hoping that Agyness Deyn stays on our side of Houston.
On Saturday Allison Sarofim hosted a Japanese anime-themed Halloween party. Nina Garcia went dressed as "a naughty Japanese schoolgirl, with tall (yet tasteful) hooker boots, a pleated gray minidress and heavy eye makeup," according to the Observer. What? Our innocent, conservative Project Runway Nina chooses Slutoween over Halloween? Heavens! “Oh, this was just the easiest thing because I had no time to think about it; it took me like five minutes to get ready,” she told the Observer. “I got it at Ricky's, which was absolutely packed today.” Sure, Nina. You just picked that because it was the "easiest." But you know what? We know you've got a hot bod, and we think we know an inner desire to flaunt that hotness when we see it. We'd feel the same way if we spent the same amount of time as you next to Heidi in all her minidresses and perfect cleavage and perfect, well, everything on Project Runway. Although we also completely understand that finding a slutty costume is much easier these days than finding a costume that, you know, covers the body.
At last night's premiere of Soul Men, Ice-T and his wife Coco would not reveal what they would be dressing as for Halloween, but one thing was certain — for Coco, this would be a very naked night. "It's my day! I get to get naked! Finally!!!" Coco squealed, as Ice looked on proudly. "You know, a lot of people comment, but some chicks like to be wild," Ice said in his wife's defense. "You come home and they're standing on the couch and they want to jump at you and tackle you. Coco's one of them girls." See who else was stirring things up last night by clicking through our Party Lines slideshow.
By any account Estelle Reiner led an accomplished life. The wife of comedy icon Carl Reiner and mother to actor-director Rob Reiner, she was a painter, jazz singer and antiwar activist. She also...
Here's a Hint: As far as we know, this 19-year-old starlet is new to the tattoo trend. While shopping in Sherman Oaks, this pint-size actress showed off some fresh ink that...
MTV is sending off TRL in high style with a big two-hour special next month called Total Finale Live, featuring a bunch of radio acts along with host Carson Daly (he somehow found the time). But much more important, they're bringing Jesse Camp back! If you'll recall, Camp became a hero to all when he won MTV's "Wanna Be a VJ" contest in 1998 despite being a gangly scarecrow-looking dude who could barely talk. And we are now that much closer to a Jesse & the 8th Street Kidz reunion. [MTV]
Maybe Russell Brand would have have been better off ripping into those Monty Python blokes.
The British comedian resigned Wednesday from his long-running BBC radio show after earning...
Publishers and authors are suddenly $125 million richer than they were last week (pending court approval next year), thanks to a settlement with Google over its copyright-breaking Library Search program. Much of it goes to lawyers and a new joint search program, but what if a new publisher had that kind of loot and wanted to build a list to end all lists? After the jump, a breakdown of what you could've gotten (some writers would still be out of your league — $64 million for five Mary Higgins Clark novels? Not likely).
$24 million: The Clintons and a Powell
• $10 million for Bill
• $8 million for Hillary
• $6 million for Colin
$22.5 million: Three economic sages
• $7 million for Warren Buffett and the Business of Life, by Alice
Shroeder
• $7 million for Jack: Straight From the Gut, by Jack Welsh
• $8.5 million for The Age of Turbulence, by Alan Greenspan (possibly less for a potential follow-up, perhaps titled Never Mind: I Was Wrong)
$17.6 million: Three celebrity puffers
• $6 million for Tina Fey
• $6 million for Whoopi Goldberg
• $5.6 million for Paul Reiser
$15.9 million: Six Regan-esque tell-alls
• Six memoirs related to the O.J. trial (If I Did It not included)
$14 million: Two blockbuster social novels
• $7 million a pop for Tom Wolfe's last novel and his next one
$8.5 million: One Pope
• Pope John Paul II's memoir
$8 million: One overhyped follow-up historical novel
• Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier
$5.575 million: Three ass-covering political memoirs
• $4 million for George Tenet's At the Center of the Storm
• $1.5 million for Karl Rove's coming memoir
• $75,000 for Scott McLellan's What Happened
$4 million: One dead rocker's doodles
• Kurt Cobain's Journals
$1.5 million: One disgraced memoirist
• Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey
$2 million: One next Da Vinci Code
• Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian
$400,000: One actual Da Vinci Code
$800,000: One cute debut novelist
• Approximate advance for Marisha Pessl
Barack Obama better not be relying on the votes of Knight Rider fans.
The NBC series is one of the shows that will be preempted or delayed by Barack Obama: American Stories, a half-hour...
On the other hand, Time Inc. might just get a boost from their new streamlined operations. Having the financial reporters from Fortune write for Time and Sports Illustrated, for example, isn't a bad idea at all, and sharing staff across their entertainment brands like People, Entertainment Weekly, and In Style will probably clear up a lot of redundancy. And the Christian Science Monitor, which made perhaps the boldest sacrifice of all, seems to have the right idea. Its editors decided to risk an online-only publication life in order to save its eight foreign bureaus and maintain its prize-winning international reporting.
If the CSM flourishes under these conditions, it'll be proof that the transition is possible. What better publication to test these waters than one with such an impeccable reputation (and one that doesn't have to answer to shareholders)? And who knows? Maybe, in the local reporting vacuum left by Gannett (and Tribune, and Knight Ridder), layoffs will be filled by low-cost, hard-working reported Websites. We're always optimistic about these things. We even believe deep down in our little heart of hearts that newspapers and magazines won't actually die in the end. People like holding them!
Are we being naive? It wouldn't be the first time we've been called cock-eyed.
Russell Brand has resigned from BBC Radio after being suspended and chided in Parliament for a series of controversial prank calls he made on air to actor Andrew Sachs. He seemed genuinely apologetic, saying, "I got a bit caught up in the moment and forgot that at the core of the rude comments and silly songs were the real feelings of a beloved and brilliant comic actor," although apparently if he hadn't resigned, Parliament was rumored to be considering declaring war. [Independent]
Aaah! Don't look now, but Miss Jay has done lost her pants!
(Be afraid. Be very afraid.)
In tonight's episode of America's Next Top Model, one of the girls needs...
Having been a supermodel, Carol Alt probably knew to apply waterproof mascara beforehand.
The '80s-era Sports Illustrated swimsuit-issue hottie was a loser in a New York court...
Michelle Obama told Jay Leno on the Tonight Show on Monday she purchased her yellow outfit online from J.Crew. J.Crew swiftly capitalized on this marketing opportunity by making "Michelle" and "Obama" searchable on their site. Type it in and the gold Pembridge Dot Camilla Skirt she wore pops up. That item skyrocketed to the most-viewed item on the site yesterday, receiving 464 percent more hits than the day before. Traffic on J.Crew's site as a whole increased 64 percent. They must still be dealing with a traffic spike because the site crashed as we tried to purchase the skirt, though it seems to be working fine now.
The top and cardigan she wore were far from overlooked. By yesterday afternoon, the J.Crew in Rockefeller Center pulled all the cardigans off the racks to reserve for customers who called that morning and put them on hold. We called the J.Crew on Prince Street this afternoon, and they had the skirt and cardigan in our size.
A spokeswoman for J.Crew told us the company is "very excited" by the response and could not reveal the quantity of Obama duds still in stock, but said the clothes are "selling out." She added, "We'd love to do a ball gown for her" — as in for the inauguration ball if Obama wins. She said they've tried to approach the campaign but haven't been able to get through. "I think they're thinking about Tuesday." Hm … maybe.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office sent letters to the nine New York banks that have received $125 billion each from the government bailout today, in which he demanded to know exactly who's getting what this bonus season, and let them know that if they don't keep their hot little hands out of that pile of cash, there will be hell to pay. "Corporate expenditures and payments, made in the absence of fair consideration by undercapitalized firms, may well violate N.Y. Debtor & Creditor Law § 274, which deems such payments illegal fraudulent conveyances." [DealBook/NYT]
AP - A family fractured by the Iraq war is at the center of "The Language of Trees," the impressive second offering of Roundabout Underground, a new-play initiative that brings the work of fledgling writers to the stage.
Sunday, while interviewing new San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary, Fox Sports broadcaster Danyelle Sargent asked the man about calling his “mentor” Bill Walsh after being named to the post. There were two problems with this. First, Singletary never worked for Walsh, and therefore would not be calling him his “mentor.” Second, and more to the point, Walsh died in July 2007. Back in the olden days, sports broadcasters could unleash massive gaffes like this and few would ever hear about it. But today, they’re all over the Web within minutes. This one has since been pulled from YouTube (like this Rick Sutcliffe classic), but it's actually Sargent’s second infamous on-air goof-up. Because we live in dreary apocalyptic times and could surely use a pick-me-up, here’s a video slideshow of this writer's ten favorite sportscaster meltdowns of all time, including Sargent’s first.
On this brand-new song (recorded just the other day at the Bridge School Benefit), Jeff Tweedy promises he'd "kill for you" and "die for you," but if the other tracks on Wilco's next album sound anything like this, that probably won't be necessary. [Muzzle of Bees]
2. M.I.A., "Shells (Slow)"
Currently available only on the How Many Votes Fix Mix EP on iTunes, this track might yet be the only evidence that pregnancy is slowing M.I.A. down. [Ants in My Trance]
3. Andrew Bird and Yo Yo Ma, "Untitled"
This winning jam session is the second-best song we've heard all day bearing this exact title. [Stereogum]
4. Max Tundra, "Playboy" (Hot Chip cover)
The quirky Tundra takes his tour hosts' tricked-out Peugeot for a spin around the studio, with excellent results. [Ohh! Crapp]
5. Stereolab, "Neon Beanbag (Atlas Sound's Southern Baptist Remix)"
Bradford Cox spreads the gospel about Stereolab on this sparkling remix of their recent single. [Pitchfork]
A new realty record has been set in the BK: Victorian-era 88 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights, which includes both a "main house" of 10,000 square feet and a carriage house with a two-car garage and separate apartment. It just went for $10.8 mil, topping nearby 140 Columbia Heights, which went for $10.75 mil in 2006. The buyer is obscured behind an LLC. We don't have much more to say about this chart-topper than, uh, can we house-sit while you're in Majorca? [Brownstoner]
It's official: she's glowing! Photo: Courtesy of Britney Spears Fragrances
FRAGRANCE
• If "Womanizer" didn't convince you that Britney is so back, her new fab ad for her seventh fragrance Hidden Fantasy will. The cherry-and-vanilla scent launches in January. [Glam Boulevard]
HAIR
• Lindsay Lohan has Rapunzel's hair! Forget leggings, someone offer this girl shampoo-endorsement deal pronto. [Jezebel]
• On Oprah, Céline Dion said she is hell-bent on letting her son René cut his hair when he feels he's good and ready. He's 7, and it's halfway down his back without one measly snip. [Jezebel]
• Going as Don Draper from Mad Men for Halloween? Here are the five products you need for his signature waxy hair. [Moment/NYT]
MAKEUP
• Makeup artist Dick Page created a new line of rouge lipsticks and lip pencils for Shiseido, launching in Japan on January 1 and then globally. Australian model Christina Carey stars in the campaign. [Face Candy]
(AP)
AP - "Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed, and Forgery in the Holy Land" (Harper, 288 pages, $27.50), by Nina Burleigh:
Besides starring in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and collecting royalties from Love Guru DVD sales, what's Mike Myers been up to lately? Oil painting! On Monday, at a benefit for the Only Make Believe charity at the Box, Myers told us he got into his "latest passion" through his friend, artist Damien Loeb: "I asked Damien, 'Is this possible? Like, can I do it?' And he said, 'Yes,' and he's been teaching me how to paint … I feel like I've made a friend of Damien and in painting that I'll have the rest of my life. It's very exciting."
According to Loeb, Myers is a natural. "You can’t really teach anybody," he said. "I gave him the tips of the craft, and Mike ended up, in a very irritating fashion, being amazingly talented in painting. By the second painting he attempted, he’d already established that he knew what he was doing and was communicating." The one piece of advice Loeb gave Myers? "Paint what you know. Paint what you love." So Myers, who describes his style as "representational," painted his dog, as well as friends and groups of friends. Would he ever sell the paintings? "Oh my God, no!" said Myers. (Not that anything's selling in this market.)
Marc Jacobs's tattoo artist, Scott Campbell, recently collaborated with friend and photographer Terry Richardson on a series of portraits. The famous faces he's tattooed agreed to pose for a shoot in Richardson's signature style, including Marc Jacobs. And all that working out he's been doing has not come to naught. Click to see his muscles much bigger. [SuperTouch via BryanBoy]
Front Page: Election to alter relations with Hollywood -- Whether Barack Obama or John McCain wins the presidency next week, the Washington-Hollywood social nexus is likely to change.
Front Page: Columbia adapting supernatural graphic novel -- Sam Mendes will direct a bigscreen adaptation of the supernatural graphic novel "Preacher" for Columbia Pictures.
"I'm not Robert De Niro, but I'm close to a raging bull on private equity," Steve Schwarzman said in a speech at the North American Venture Capital Summit in Quebec City today. "This is a wonderful time to be an investor. In almost every asset class because of this dislocation, you can make phenomenal returns with very little risk … In periods like this, people get scared out of their minds. This kind of environment is tailor-made for making absolute fortunes in the private-equity business." [Bloomberg]
From left, black pyramid bangle, leather cuff, and palladium antique large bangle. Photo: Courtesy of House of Harlow 1960/Kiston
Nicole Richie announced in April plans for a jewelry line called House of Harlow 1960, which she named after her daughter. And, for the past few weeks, paparazzi have photographed Richie wearing her creations, such as the $38 leather starburst ring. Out. Like a real businesswoman promoting her product! (Unlike some other people, ahem.) Now, the line is finally on sale this week at Kitson's online boutique. Remarkably for a celebrity line, the sixties- and seventies-inspired collection is affordable and wearable, and, dare we say, we actually like the pieces (to be clear: some, not all). In particular, the black pyramid bangle ($68) and the palladium antique large bangle ($35) caught our eye as great for stacking on your wrist, while the black leather cuff ($125) is a substantial statement piece. But can Nicole single-handedly change our minds about celebrity designers? That remains to be seen.
Mary Jo Vath's Chrysanthemum and Truffle (2004). Photo: Courtesy of Heskin Contemporary
This darling, somewhat mournful scene by Mary Jo Vath, up at Heskin Contemporary through November 15, is like a mini-ballet, the upside-down chrysanthemum like a swan — a rather fashion-forward one at that — and the chocolate wrappers akin to tutus. Gossip Girl’s Jenny Humphrey will be sending one of these down the runway next.
Front Page: Hughes Brothers film stars Denzel Washington -- Gary Oldman will co-star with Denzel Washington in "Book of Eli," a post-apocalyptic actioner to be directed by Allen and Albert Hughes.
This morning the Today show focused on the trampiness that inevitably comes every Halloween. Only what's disturbing is that the sexy look is getting younger, with slutty costumes marketed to kids as young as 4 years old — 4! Come on. There's seduction everywhere you turn: Upstairs Maid (a gussied-up French-maid outfit — that takes it upstairs), Platinum Girl With Boots (all silver outfit with crop top, miniskirt, and over-the-knee boots), and, perhaps the most disturbing, Hottie Totties (which includes a black and red lace-up bodice). The problem is that girls are learning at an even younger age about gender roles and how overly sexualized looks will get them attention. Which makes us wonder what happened to princesses? Using old dance recital costumes to become ballerinas or witches in big, black trash bags? Halloween isn't worth years of therapy, little girls. Click ahead to watch the corrupted innocence. Trick or treat.
Ceaselessly productive comedy genius Harry Shearer has a new album out, Songs of the Bushmen, with his band the High-Value Detainees. In anticipation of their show this Saturday at 92YTribeca, Shearer rapped with Vulture recently about making funny music sound like music and the only time it's not okay to quote The Simpsons to him.
You've merged music and comedy with Spinal Tap as well as your own albums. Is it difficult to keep it rooted so it doesn't veer off into Dr. Demento "Witchdoctor" comedy territory?
No, my wife polices me strictly. She's a very talented singer, songwriter, and musician, and she said, with typical British disdain, that it was okay for me to dip into funny music, but it damn well better sound like music.
To quote AC/DC, "Rock 'n' roll is just rock 'n' roll." But judging from High Level Detainees' album Songs of the Bushmen, it appears you think it can be much more. How does your music prove that AC/DC is just plain wrong?
Well, first of all, most of the music on Bushmen isn't rock and roll, so maybe they're still right. Also, when you're that loud, who cares if you're wrong? I do think music can be an effective form of satire. I was raised on Tom Lehrer and Stan Freberg and memorized most of their stuff, which I didn't do with the spoken-word comedy I loved at the time. So, just from the standpoint of colonizing brain cells, music seems to be an effective way of making a point.
In the last few months, an oft-bandied-about thesis is that this is the most important presidential election ever. Your feelings are clear, but are you just pulling for your guy or do you agree with that?
I'm not even really pulling for "my guy." I said at the beginning of this year that my vote was available to the first candidate in either party who said something substantive and cogent about the failure of the federal levees in New Orleans and the need to rebuild the coastal wetlands. That offer still stands. As to the importance of this election, I'd put 1860 up against it.
Two of your art pieces, Telesthesia and Wall of Silence, feature language — either focusing on the lack of it or the more banal parts of it. What fascinates you about language? Is this an actor-writer interest or political commentary?
They both, like the more recent Silent Echo Chamber, focus on the weirdness of a supposedly visual medium, television, being so utterly dependent on yak. And then, when people on TV are yakking at you, the words — especially at cable-news yelling volume — seem to almost act as a jamming mechanism to keep you from noticing how the people behave, how they really look. So I get to take away the language, and people get to see the behavior without any words getting in the way.
You write novels, host a radio show, are an actor, had an art exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art, perform music, etc. How do you keep track of all those residual checks?
I let people screw me as much as they want. That seems to take care of that problem.
And finally, give me one scenario where it's not okay for someone to quote The Simpsons to you.
When we're trapped in an elevator. For hours.
Supermodels have dominated ad campaigns for the past year, but their comebacks shan't stop there. Their next conquest is the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute and, it follows, Anna Wintour's Big Gala. The Costume Institute's next exhibit is titled "The Model As Muse: Embodying Fashion" and will show how models like Lisa Fonssagrives, Peggy Moffitt, Iman, Nadja Auermann, Gisele Bündchen, Veruschka, Twiggy, Naomi Campbell, and more have inspired twentieth-century trends. The goods on display will include 70 couture and ready-to-wear looks, photos, and video footage of models, rock stars, socialites, and actresses who have influenced each era. A natural next step from this year's Superheroes exhibit.
The exhibit may be the meat and potatoes, but Anna's gala celebrating its opening (often called the "Oscars of the East Coast") is the juicy bits. Marc Jacobs is the honorary chair, and Kate Moss and Justin Timberlake will co-chair. Kate really does love the limelight these days, eh? At least we can count on Anna to keep her from wearing one of her Topshop frocks to the party. Shameless self-promotion is fine, but one must be red-carpet-worthy at the gala.
It seems a very long time ago, considering the barely-contained anticipation around new Bond movie "Quantum of Solace," that eyebrows were raised over Daniel Craig's initial casting as the super-cool spy.
Just as we feared, the Tina Fey backlash may have already started. And as we should have guessed, it isn't coming from critics or bloggers — who've always loved her and probably always will — but from regular TV viewers. Joe Six-Packs, if you will. In David Hinckley's Daily News column today, he quotes from letters he's received about Fey. One, by a reader named John Locke — presumably not this one or this one — says that Fey’s Sarah Palin sketches are "tabloid journalism, which is not journalism at all." (?) He continues: "Who cares about Tina Fey? Tina Fey is ugly. Sarah Palin is beautiful, and smart. Fey is making an idiot of herself, and you as well, for reporting this nonsense." Hinckley, we presume, cut off the part of the letter where Locke accused her of having cooties and eating babies.
Others claim Fey's Palin sketches are "mean-spirited" and "worn out." "I don't see where it is creating so much adulation for Tina," says one. But surely none of these letters could possibly have originated in the real America, right? 30 Rock is finally back tomorrow night (it's already online!), and we expect the Tina Fey deification to continue apace.
Fashion Wire Daily - Eco-friendly fur coats? It may sound like an oxymoron, but Japanese designer Chie Imai showed how it could be done with her 2008-2009 Royal Chie Collection of fur designs, which Imai and her daughter Chiaki presented on Tuesday, Oct. 28 to a group of New Yorkers that included Spike Lee and Tonya Lee Lewis, Ivanka Trump and her brother Donald Trump with his wife Vanessa and daughter Kai Madison and model Irina Pantaeva.
WWD just interrupted our day to bring us major breaking news, so we'll interrupt our normal blogging cycle to do the same for you: Posh Spice is the next face of Emporio Armani underwear's international ad campaign. Believe it, sisters! The ads shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott will debut for spring 2009.
"Who better than Victoria Beckham to launch our new global Emporio Armani underwear campaign?" Giorgio Armani said. "Victoria is a style icon, a dynamic lady whose influence and recognition will add great excitement to the continued international growth of our Emporio Armani women's underwear business."
As you well know, David Beckham currently stars in the Emporio men's underwear campaign, so this announcement brings their Power Coupleness to unseen levels. However we're surprised by this because Posh hasn't been keen to strip down in any recent photo shoots. Not that we're suggesting she's insecure, because if she's willing to appear in an underwear ad, she obviously has chops. We wonder if the stylists will give her extensions or a weave like Indian Vogue did?
US actor Robert Downey Jr, seen here in September 2008, has signed a deal with Marvel Studios to return to the screen as superhero "Iron Man" in two sequels to the hit film released last April, Hollywood... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 29 Oct 2008 | 6:46 pm
British actor Daniel Craig, who plays 007 in the James Bond film "Quantum of Solace", poses for press during a photocall in Moscow on October 13. 007 star Craig, Bond girls Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton,... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 29 Oct 2008 | 6:40 pm
Britain's Prince Harry is pictured prior to the start of the Enduro Africa 08 charity motorcycle ride in Port Edward, some 150 km south-west of Durban, South Africa, October 18. Excitement has mounted... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 29 Oct 2008 | 6:40 pm
"'Fun size' means lame size! Just give a normal-size candy bar to those kids, for crying out loud! They got all dressed up, and they came to your house. Give 'em a candy bar! Just spill the chocolate already." — Sam Raimi [MTV]
"Tina [Fey] and [Robert] Carlock are both huge Star Wars nerds, as am I, and many people on the writing staff, because writers usually work by themselves, in a dark room. They're very lonely people, and there are no better friends than science fiction." —30 Rock's Scott Adsit on why there are so many Star Wars references on the show [A.V. Club]
"I honestly feel like if people saw it they would have been like, 'This is NC-17?' And they would have been disappointed." —Seth Rogen confirms that Zack and Miri Make a Porno is not hot enough to merit an NC-17 rating [Reuters via Yahoo]
"Alexander hurt, you know — and again people are going to say 'Get over it, you were well paid' and all that. But Alexander hurt … It was a film that was made to be seen by many people. Not many people saw it and they weren't particularly fond of it, and that was shit, it was really shit." —Colin Farrell is still upset that you didn't like Alexander [Reuters via Yahoo]
"I always wanted to be a rapper when I was younger. That's always what I wanted to be before I started acting — that's what I wanted to do, was be a rapper. I didn't have the right physicality about it — I'm not very threatening." —Twilight's Robert Pattinson is menacing enough to be a vampire heartthrob but not a rapper [MTV]
"I don't think they would be too happy about that. On the Disney Channel, the skinhead look doesn't do too well, let me tell you." —Dylan Sprouse on whether he’d shave his head [NYDN]
The mother of a "person of interest" in the slayings three of Jennifer Hudson's family members insisted Monday night on CNN that her son was not involved in the crime.
AP - "The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange" (Soho Press. 288 pages. $25), by Mark Barrowcliffe: As the recent cult documentaries "King of Kong" and "Darkon" have shown, geeks make for great entertainment even for those who don't necessarily share their weird interests. Mark Barrowcliffe's humorous, self-deprecating memoir of his misspent youth, "The Elfish Gene," is another welcome addition to the growing nerdsploitation genre.
AP - "The New Annotated Dracula" (W.W. Norton & Co. 624 pages. $39.95), by Bram Stoker, edited by Leslie S. Klinger: Part trick and part treat, this weighty tome seeks to add another dimension to the famous vampire tale. To the complete text of Bram Stoker's "Dracula," Klinger adds copious notes usually several a page that offer facts and anecdotes to put the tale in the context of its Victorian England roots.
AP - "Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes? Bodies, Behavior and Brains The Science Behind Sex, Love & Attraction" (Delacorte Press. 308 pages. $20), by Jena Pincott: Plenty of sex books claim to answer the questions we're too afraid to ask. In "Do Gentlemen Really Prefer Blondes?" author Jena Pincott answers questions we might never have thought to ask.
In 1993, unknown comics artist David Hine published a creepy black-and-white story that combined Cronenberg-esque body horror with the spooky novels of the nineteenth century. Strange Embrace, the tale of a man obsessed with self-mutilation and the evil psychic who digs into his mind, slowly accumulated fans — among them comics luminaries like Joe Quesada and Todd McFarlane, leading to Hine's jobs on Spawn, Daredevil, and more mainstream titles. But this fall Image Comics is rereleasing the complete Strange Embrace, now in color, so that a new audience can read one of the scariest horror comics ever to come down the pike. Beware: When you read the entire graphic novel, don't be surprised if Hine's disturbing images invade your dreams for weeks to come.
In honor of Halloween, Vulture is proud to present an exclusive thirteen-page excerpt from Strange Embrace, out now from Image Comics.
Front Page: 'House' keeps Fox in first place as MLB rests -- Post-premiere ratings for pretty much all new shows this fall have drifted downward, but CBS rookie "The Mentalist" is an exception, logging its best scores yet in its sixth outing.
Think naked women, body-paint, big boobs, blondes and free booze and you'll get a feel for Hugh Hefner's Annual (and possibly final) Halloween party, which went down at his iconic mansion on Saturday night. Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Oct 2008 | 5:06 pm
Front Page: Veteran music producer accused of murder -- The death of actress Lana Clarkson at Phil Spector's hillside castle stunned Hollywood five years ago. It is a distant memory now as Spector, the eccentric musical genius behind some of rock 'n' roll's biggest sounds, goes on trial for a second time.
Television entertainer Russell Brand performs at the Live Earth Concert at Wembley stadium London, 2007. The BBC suspended two top presenters, including Brand over foul-mouthed comments aired about a veteran... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:27 pm
Four members of the Jackson Five (from left to right): brothers Marlon, Tito, Jackie and Germaine Jackson at their induction into the 12th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a hotel in Cleveland, United... Source: Infocious RSS raw feed - channel BNImagesEnter | 29 Oct 2008 | 4:01 pm
As a comedic sidekick, Brian Fantana in "Anchorman" was golden -- the clueless ladies' man who sex-panthered his way into fans' hearts. Some might say the same about the man who played Fantana, Paul Rudd, although he didn't need a secret cologne for his trip to stardom. His new movie is "Role Model."
Elisabeth Hasselbeck gets more death threats than anyone else on "The View," Whoopi Goldberg revealed Monday night at Cooper Union. Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Oct 2008 | 2:20 pm
Busted for what police said was a rock of cocaine on the driver's seat of his car, William Balfour could have been spending the past few months behind bars for a parole violation. Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Oct 2008 | 1:55 pm
To the disappointment of so many viewers that enjoyed her silly antics, Cloris Leachman was voted off "Dancing with the Stars" Tuesday. Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Oct 2008 | 1:45 pm
Lisa Kudrow co-starred in one of TV's most successful sitcoms, "Friends," and she found success in movies, especially with "Analyze This." But her latest comedic project isn't for the big or small screen.
One would assume Katharine McPhee would be right at home performing on stage. But as it turns out the 24-year-old puts herself through hell before opening her mouth. Source: FOXNews.com | 29 Oct 2008 | 12:39 pm
The much-awaited Barack Obama advertisement aired tonight, and we can imagine a variety of responses based on a viewer's political persuasion, openness to infomercials and affection for the...
David and Victoria Beckham are super, to be sure.
But Marvel Comics kingpin Stan Lee, who created Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and The Incredible Hulk with artists Jack Kirby and Steve...
A piece of Jennifer Hudson's tragic puzzle may be in place.
Chicago police have recovered a gun that they believe was the one used in the shooting deaths of the Oscar winner's...
By any account Estelle Reiner led an accomplished life. The wife of comedy icon Carl Reiner and mother to actor-director Rob Reiner, she was a painter, jazz singer and antiwar activist. She also...
Here's a Hint: As far as we know, this 19-year-old starlet is new to the tattoo trend. While shopping in Sherman Oaks, this pint-size actress showed off some fresh ink that...
Maybe Russell Brand would have have been better off ripping into those Monty Python blokes.
The British comedian resigned Wednesday from his long-running BBC radio show after earning...
Barack Obama better not be relying on the votes of Knight Rider fans.
The NBC series is one of the shows that will be preempted or delayed by Barack Obama: American Stories, a half-hour...
Aaah! Don't look now, but Miss Jay has done lost her pants!
(Be afraid. Be very afraid.)
In tonight's episode of America's Next Top Model, one of the girls needs...
Having been a supermodel, Carol Alt probably knew to apply waterproof mascara beforehand.
The '80s-era Sports Illustrated swimsuit-issue hottie was a loser in a New York court...
In honor of Halloween, Vulture is proud to present an exclusive thirteen-page excerpt from Strange Embrace, out now from Image Comics.