World Entertainment News Headlines for January 7, 2009

Barack Obama kickoff to HBO

a series of photos for luxury bag brand Louis Vuitton

Zac Efron, Piano God

Zac Efron isn't the first guy who comes to mind when you think "viral video." Or, for that matter, comedy. However, now that he's teamed up with Seth Green and the Robot Chicken guys, your opinion of the hunkiest hunk that ever hunked just might begin to change for the better. In a surprisingly amusing bit that's set to air on an upcoming episode of the Adult Swim fave, Efron takes on the role of "Billy Joel: Piano God" (sorry ladies, it's just a voice-over), which is based on a certain singer-songwriter with a penchant for stealing the life stories of his drinking buddies and working them into song. Oh, and then killing them. It's typically scattershot Robot Chicken stuff, but where else are you going to hear a Disney star singing the line "And I'll put my balls right on your tongue"? Yep, thought so. We almost hate to say this, but after this performance, might it be time to put the High School Musical star on the short list for hosting duties on a future episode of SNL?

Zac Efron Voices Adult Swim’s “Robot Chicken” [Just Jared]

Louis Vuitton Promotes 2009 Handbag Collection: “Madonna’s Leathery Vagina”

Madonna

think

her vagina looks like it could bench 400

Mickey Rourke

The Wrestler

Die Hard with a Vengeance

Madonna's vagina just committed murder.

Goodbye cruel world.

About some of the things I said about New Kids On The Block member

Meet the New Girl: Ariel Meredith

Ariel Meredith at Elie Saab (Ford Models)

Runway success has been a long time coming for Ariel Meredith. The Louisiana native was discovered at a modeling expo in Dallas while still in high school. But this smart cookie had her priorities straight and decided to focus on finishing her studies before embarking on catwalking. Post graduation, Meredith spent a few years doing commercial modeling and then signed with Ford Models in 2008. She made her runway debut at Vera Wang last September. A week later, she was booked for the D&G runway in Milan and the label's spring ad campaign, shot by Mario Testino. And things haven't slowed down for the southern belle since. Meredith has upcoming spreads in V magazine by Will Davidson, French Revue de Modes by Thierry LeGoues, and even a television spot for Yves Saint Laurent's fragrance. But then again, are you surprised? With a face like that, we have a feeling you'll be seeing a lot more of this one.

Model Profile: Ariel Meredith

Plus: Browse more than 475 of the hottest, freshest faces in our comprehensive Model Manual.

The Top Ten Most Abusively Blurbed Authors

Maybe one day if you are young and cute, they'll call you a Sloane.

This morning, news came that much-loved light humorist Sloane Crosley is coming out with a follow-up to her bestselling book, I Was Told There'd Be Cake. Crosley is often described as a blend of David Sedaris, Nora Ephron, and Candace Bushnell (which, judging by her Website, is a formula her publicists are trying to get across). Seeing this again today reminded us of something that always stuns us: There are only ten writers that you can be compared to in blurbs or publicity materials. Out of the thousands of great writers in American history, this is all we can come up with? In Sloane's case, we're not even sure it's a compliment! Below, we've compiled the top ten (sometimes entries are paired if they are essentially the same writer) most overused blurb comparisons for new, zeitgeist-y writers:

10. F. Scott Fitzgerald or Edith Wharton: If you write about society, you write about rich drunks, or you write about crumbling marriages and decadence, you're one of these two. If you're a boy, you're Scott; if you're a girl, you're Edith. If you're a girl pretending to be a boy, maybe you get to be George Eliot.

9. Jay McInerney or Bret Easton Ellis: If you're writing about disaffected (frequently drug-using) outsiders who don't express emotion but who are also inevitably destroyed by the world with which they are obsessed, you're one of these. Usually Jay, but if there's gay sex, then Bret.
8. Candace Bushnell: If you are a female writer with a concept so good and sexy that you don't have to worry about execution, you're Candace.
7. David Sedaris: If you are a male writer with witticisms so sharp you don't have to worry about the truth, you're David. (Sometimes girls in this vein are compared to Norah Ephron.)
6. Malcolm Gladwell: If you find a fascinating new way to state the obvious, you're a Malcolm.
5. Doris Kearns Goodwin or Robert Caro: If you wrote exhaustively and intelligently about history and famous Americans were there when the history happened, you're a Doris or a Robert.
4. Hunter S. Thompson: If you are a crazy writer who did something adventurous, and your publicist couldn't even get through the book but sensed it would be transgressive, you are a Hunter. If your publicist could get through it, you are more like a Jack Kerouac.
3. Chuck Klosterman: If you write about pop culture, and the peoples of pop culture, and you're not visibly sexy in your jacket photo, you're a Chuck.
2. Dave Eggers: If you wrote something about yourself that started out as a somewhat pedestrian tale of self-discovery, but then become something so much more, you are a Dave. Nobody remembers that last book.
1. Dorothy Parker: The short-story writer and humorist would be spinning in her grave if she knew how many times her name has been used in vain. Particularly to describe writers of novels, a craft she was never really able to master. If you are a gay man, sometimes you'll be called a Noel Coward instead.

READER MEMO! Danny Wood Not The Ugliest Member of NKOTB!

Danny Wood

danny wood

ugliest member of nkotb

My response ahead...

Seven Pounds Finally Gets the Poster It Deserves

By now we hope you've had a chance to peruse Vulture's Critics' Poll of 2008's crappiest movies, in which America's most prestigious reviewers gifted Will Smith's organ-donation comedy, Seven Pounds, with top honors. Today, Jeffrey Wells directs us to a fake, spoiler-y poster for the film that we wish its marketers would've used, if only because it might've saved us from having to write this post.

Seven Pounds Tops Stinkers [Hollywood Elsewhere]

Earlier: Vulture’s Critics’ Poll: What’s the Worst Movie of 2008?
How Bad Is Seven Pounds’ Ending, Anyway?

Hollywood swag on the decline

Liskula Cohen Is Not a Skank!

Liskula Cohen was a model (she was once on the cover of Australian Vogue!) until she was cut in the face in a bar fight over bottle service at a club last year, ending her career. (She was 35, anyway.) "I haven't had a job since then," she told the Post. Fast forward to now: Liskula is suing Google for not telling her the identity of the person running Skanks in NYC, a blog with like four posts on it, each of which call Liskula a skank in various ways, plus a handful of pictures of her in positions no more compromising than your average college freshman's Facebook profile. This hurt and embarrassed her deeply, and according to her filing, "Liskula ... doesn't need any more agony." Which is too bad. Because this lawsuit is going to make it even worse. For instance, just yesterday Google had only one result for "Liskula Cohen" and "skank." But now there are like 1,300 and a Post photo gallery! Stay strong, lady. Maybe you'll get your own reality-TV show someday.

EX-VOGUE MODEL SNARED IN UGLY WEB [NYP]
Skanks in NYC [Blogspot]

Two More Designers Bow Out of Fashion Week

Monique Lhuillier, spring 2009

And then there were … two less. Vera Wang, Betsey Johnson, and Carmen Marc Valvo have opted out of Bryant Park runway shows, and now Monique Lhuillier and Naeem Khan have decided to do the same in favor of presentations. Paul Wilmot, whose PR firm represents both designers, said the moves aren't even about saving a quick buck. In fact, Wilmot said the designers might not spend any less money. Apparently they just want to "shake things up a bit." But is this change we can believe in? “Before, there’s that one degree of separation — the press and the buyers get a different sense of the clothing when they’re flying past you on the runway as opposed to being able to stand next to them and having the fashion designer talk about the clothes,” Wilmot says.

Excellent point — presentations could be a better sales strategy. But are they the future while runway shows merely walk the path to Obsolete Park? As Cathy Horyn noted a while back, shows aren't even necessary these days. Anyone can look at the clothes online minutes after they end, and the only function the shows seem to serve is to preserve the egos of the people with the good seats (i.e., that episode of the Real Housewives of New York where Jill storms out of the tents because Ramona got a front-row seat while she got a second-row seat). So bring on the presentations and force the important people to mingle with the lowly bloggers like us. Come fall 2009, everyone's front row!

Monique Lhuillier, Naeem Khan Decide Against February Runway Shows [Heard on the Runway/WSJ]

Read more posts by Amy Odell

Filed Under: change we can believe in, fall 2009, monique lhuillier, naeem khan, new york fashion week

Are Sean Penn and Josh Brolin in Love?

In Gus Van Sant's Harvey Milk biopic, Milk, Josh Brolin and Sean Penn may play personal and political enemies, but at last night's New York Film Critics Circle Awards, it was a regular love-in between the actors. Taking the stage to present Brolin with the trophy for Best Supporting Actor, Penn affectionately referred to his co-star as "this bitter actor who took until he was 40 for anyone to know him." But most of his speech was about Brolin's striking handsomeness: "His hair is very high tonight," said Penn with breathy admiration. “I always just wrote him off, as I do handsome, square-jawed actors. And then bit by bit, as he became very old, he started to be celebrated and I started to see these performances. And truly, in an era that was younger leading boys, suddenly there was a leading man. There’s nobody like him. Nobody as big a nightmare as him. Nobody as square-jawed who’s as talented as him. Nobody has as much endurance at night and as little during the day as him. Truly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with another actor is working with Josh Brolin."

Penn continued: "His talent, his wit. He’s well deserving of the encouragement that you’re giving him tonight. And more is coming, if we keep him working and not free at his own will. Really, you’re going to save a life tonight.” Onstage, Brolin returned the professional admiration: “Quite an actor, Sean Penn … Not an asshole like Russell Crowe.” On the red carpet, though, Brolin admitted that he hadn’t been so much amused but rather turned on by Penn’s costume of tight jeans, hippie beard, and seventies ponytail: “He doesn’t make me laugh,” said Brolin, grinning. “He just makes me want to be gay.”

Read more posts by Jada Yuan and Bennett Marcus

Filed Under: josh brolin, milk, movies, news reel, sean penn

Vulture

Travolta, Preston return with son's ashes

This Is The Exact Reason I Don’t Ever Go Skiing.

Smoking Gun

With Leather

Stooges guitarist found dead

Ken Lewis Joins Team No Bonus!

Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis decided he and his team would give up their bonuses this year, in advance of earnings that are expected to be below expectations and because taking in those relatives from up north has caused the bank a little hardship. “This was a difficult decision because we have worked hard and made progress on many projects that will create value for our company in future years,” he said in the e-mail that went out this afternoon. “Nonetheless, we are a pay for performance company.” [Charlotte Observer]

Paco Rabanne Might Return to the Runway

Paco Rabanne, fall 2006

Two and a half years ago, Puig Beauty and Fashion Group announced it would stop producing the Paco Rabanne ready-to-wear line. Patrick Robinson, currently the chief designer for Gap, had designed the line since 2004. The Rabanne name has lived on in fragrances. However, Puig created the new post of vice-president, which the former director of the fragrance business Vincent Thilloy now fills. Thilloy will oversee the fragrance, fashion, and accessories divisions of the label. "I'm thinking about a new business model for the fashion," he said. Cryptic words indeed. This could mean Rabanne will ink a bunch of new licensing deals, for things like watches and glasses, which Puig has already done. Or it could return to the runway, which is what we're hoping for. We're sick of all this recession/cutting-back crap.

Expanding Rabanne [British Vogue]

Read more posts by Amy Odell

Filed Under: comeback clothes, paco rabanne, patrick robinson, puig

ICYMI - Wobbly Dog Needs A Wheelchair - Funny bloopers R us

Inability to Marshal Stoner Vote Leads to Speed Racer Oscar Snub

Although we won't know the final list of official nominees for the Best Visual Effects Oscar until January 22, AMPAS has released its list of seven finalists for the coveted prize today. Though we'll likely be selecting The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in our office pool, we find it strange that Speed Racer's insanely candy-colored visuals were on the receiving end of a snub. We can only assume that somewhere in midtown Manhattan, Time film critic Richard Corliss is weeping. [Awards Daily]

WHAT’S MORE PATHETIC: Rabbit in a Wheelchair vs. Dizzy Dog

First up, A Dizzy Dog.

Note

Gremlins

Next up, A Rabbit In A Wheelchair:

Retro! A Jay-Z-and-Radiohead Mash-up Album

How nobody thought to do this already, post–Grey Album, is a mystery: DJ Minty Fresh Beats’ new mix, Jaydiohead, mashes up Jay-Z's a cappella rhymes with snippets of Radiohead tracks. But instead of sounding tired and gimmicky, tracks like “Dirt Off Your Android” (“Paranoid Android” meets “Dirt Off My Shoulder,” obviously!) actually add up to something: In this case, Radiohead’s creepy disaffection and ennui give context and scope to Hov’s “grams to Grammys” ambition. We don't know if Minty is the next Danger Mouse — maybe he can convince André 3000 to start a band with him called Extreme Abdul Jabar — but this track kicks off our Best of 2009 list.

Download Jaydiohead: Jaydiohead

PHOTOS: Cupid Strikes Tinseltown

Legendary band has 'unfinished music'

Want to Write For BWE.tv? Well Buckle The F**k Up.

Blogger =

Cool guy, seen right.

Here's what we're looking for:

Please send us:

A cover letter and resume. Make sure to include a phone number.
A writing portfolio with a minimum of at least 2 sample blog posts you think would be appropriate for BestWeekEver.tv. We will accept these posts in the following formats: MS Word (or equivalent) with photos attached separately or embedded in the document; links to live blog posts; or PDF.
A link to any blog or website you've worked on along with a short description of your role or contribution to that site.
An optional attached humorous photo or image that you've created (Photoshop skills a plus!) (Pop culture related please, no porn.)
Double Optional: Please also indicate any celebrity friends or contacts you may have.
Triple Optional: If you are good looking, you may send us your photograph. (This is the one instance where porn will be allowed.)

BWEWriter@gmail.com

by FRIDAY JANUARY 9, 2008.

Good luck!

Finally, Preppy White Dudes Rapping About Gossip Girl

Remember the guys who made the exceedingly necessary Olafur Eliasson rap? Well, they've outdone themselves (really, it's quite long) this time with a rap titled "Dear Gossip Girl." It's essentially an R&B song, with occasional rapping, about the delights of the anonymous girl who writes the blog on the Greatest Show of Our Time. Key lines include:

Nate Archibald's a gigolo for Catherine the Lady
She's got more libido than Agnes's got crazy.
"What a yummy cappuccino!" "Ooh, thanks Vanessa!"
"Hope your dirty Brooklyn hands don't much up my French press-a."

The dudes even film themselves singing at key locations from the show, which might have proven once and for all that even straight guys like Gossip Girl, except there are far too many cravats in the video for this evidence to be conclusive.

Dear Gossip Girl - Southern Mothers ft. Matt Pearson [YouTube]
Earlier: Finally, Someone Made a Rap Video About Olafur Eliasson's Waterfalls

The Stooges' Ron Asheton Remembered

Pioneering guitarist shaped the sound of punk to come

Ron Asheton, the guitarist in the proto-punk band the Stooges, whose raw, animalistic playing laid the groundwork for the entire punk rock movement, was found dead in his Ann Arbor, Michigan home last night. He was 60. An autopsy is scheduled, but police don't suspect foul play or drug use. Alongside Iggy Pop, David Alexander and his brother Scott, Ron co-wrote such classics "I Wanna Be Your Dog," "No Fun" and "1969."

At the height of the flower-power and psychedelic period of the late...

Rolling Stone: Features

Want to Hang Out With Rachel Zoe?

Rachel Zoe

Rachel Zoe is a woman of the people. As part of a Piperlime.com contest, the stylist is offering one winner a prize worth $10,000 — three days at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, a spending budget of $2,000, and $500 for shoes. Not to mention personal Rach-Rach time! Just make sure you know how to spell D-I-E before you go. She's pretty fond of spelling out reactions. [Glamour via Racked]

Read more posts by Sharon Clott

Filed Under: rachel zoe, the twilight zoe

Have You Ever Wondered What A Doggy Orgasm Sounds Like?

Thank you Lifetime.

Sarah B.

The Maple-Syrup Smell Is Back

Last night, folks throughout the city smelled the maple-syrup smell again. The city's 311 line got 35 calls about the smell in just a few hours, most of them from Manhattan. Maybe it's a collective projection we have when we're feeling cold and lonely and want a cuddly, womblike childhood feeling. It should come with Saturday-morning cartoons and couch forts. That would be good for morale. [NYT, Gothamist]

Dude, Calm Down, You’re Not The Famous One

Matthew Broderick

With Friends Like These, Ben Lyons Needs More Friends

When we wrote about the brewing Category 4 Ben Lyons Hate Storm last week, Vulture took a mildly ambivalent stance on the self-proclaimed "movie dude." While a nation of highbrow critics are calling for his head on a platter (their bloodlust is so strong that they're not even demanding said platter be cast from silver), we kind of took the stance that Lyons isn't worth demonizing because he's pretty genial and, ultimately, not that influential. However, we just stumbled across a shoddily composed essay over at the Huffington Post titled "In Defense of Ben Lyons" that has us reconsidering our stance. Penned by a blogger named Cenk Uygur, the piece's crucial thesis statement reads as follows:

Here is my simple message to all the haters — get off Ben Lyons' ass.

Though we don't know what kind of relationship Uygur has with Lyons (if any at all), we were kinda hoping that someone more well spoken would've rushed to defend the younger of the Two Bens. Uygar's piece is chock-full of tired clichés (at one point, he writes the groan-worthy line "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn that he doesn't have Roger Ebert's encyclopedic knowledge of film history") and weirdly cyclical arguments. His major point seems to be that he doesn't watch At the Movies to find out about "cinematography and shadowy lighting"; rather, he just wants to know if he should take his old lady to go see Benjamin Button or not. After all, as he argues, "How this movie compares with Frank Capra's body of work is a lot less relevant to me than whether my wife is going to be able to sit through it." Good point, we suppose, but we're kind of hoping we never have to meet his wife.

He goes on to rail against the Cahiers du Cinéma crowd by stating that he's "got two Ivy League degrees and I still loved Old School," before launching into his closing arguments with an impassioned chant of "Look, let's keep it real." At that point, his argument really falls apart when he refers back to the "haters" we mentioned from his thesis statement:

Are some of these other critics jealous of Ben Lyons because he has landed such a prestigious and well paying job (and one that makes you famous) whereas they are still working in print? Absolutely.

Way to kick the film critics of America when they're down, Cenk. As the cliché that we're fairly certain he's familiar with goes, there's just no accounting for taste.

Cenk Uygur: In Defense Of Ben Lyons [HuffPo]

Celeb Blogger Perez Hilton Reveals All

closing of the Woolworth's retail chain after 100 years of business

The 7 Most Depressing Stock Photos From The Final Day Of Woolworth’s

Getty Images

Brody Jenner

this

7.
6.

5.
4.
3.
2.
1.
BONUS UPLIFTING PHOTO:

Spend Your Money With a Cavalli Credit Card

Even spending money on credit is an exercise of style for Roberto Cavalli. Come March 1, the designer will launch his own version of a Mastercard, "created for those who thrive upon excellence, elegance and quality," offering cardholders special alerts for sales and invites to fashion shows. Cavalli boiled down his whole aesthetic into one little rectangle, complete with an iridescent snakeskin print and a golden crest emblazoned on the right. Why stick to a boring bank card when you can carry around a shimmering piece of animal-print plastic? [BlackBook via Luxist]

Read more posts by Sharon Clott

Filed Under: credit cards, credit crunch, economy, mastercard, roberto cavalli

Director Andrew Stanton Talks Wall-E’s Oscar Chances

Yesterday, the world reacted with shock and disappointment when it learned that Andrew Stanton, helmer of Pixar masterpiece Wall-E, could not win an award from the Directors Guild simply because, as a director of animated films, he's not a member of that union, and the DGA's draconian 70-year-old rules prohibit giving its highest prize to non-members. Even so, Stanton is taking it in all stride: "I'm not part of the Directors Guild, because in animation you’re not part of that union," he told us at last night's New York Film Critics Circle Awards (where his movie was honored as 2008's Best Animated Feature). But he was slightly more bullish on Wall-E's shot at Best Picture!

Some have speculated that, due to animated films' traditional lack of acting by real-life human beings, Wall-E may have difficulty making inroads with carbon-based thespians, the Academy's largest voting bloc. But Stanton hopes not: "I’ve got to say that actors were very involved with the movie, even though you didn’t see their face. Nobody’s job was being replaced by a computer — there’s a human artist behind every single step of the process that’s done in our movie, so it’s pretty much a big myth. Two hundred and fifty artists worked on this film, you know? Including actors.”

But does Stanton — whose films are all universally loved by critics and well rewarded at the box-office, and who famously told the Times last summer, "I never think about the audience … If someone gives me a marketing report, I throw it away" — even care about winning an Oscar? Apparently he does! "Certainly as a filmmaker, it’s the sort of biggest award there is in that sense," he told us. "And there’s something special about it because you’re voted on by your peers, the people that you respect, that made you want to go into the movies, and that’s a huge pat on the back. So yeah, it means a lot."

'Button,' 'Frost' lead BAFTA longlist

RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter

Mary Wilson

BBC Votes Agyness Deyn Most Annoying Person of 2008

The BBC Three counted down the 100 most annoying people of 2008. (Why didn't we think of that?) Agyness Deyn won the No. 1 spot, mostly because of her ubiquity. You know, the song she did with the Five O'Clock Heroes annoyed us, but it's not her fault paparazzi stalk her with such relish. Peaches Geldof landed the runner-up spot. [Lancashire Telegraph via Sassybella]

Read more posts by Amy Odell

Filed Under: agyness deyn, model tracker, models, peaches geldof

Yahoo! News: Entertainment Reviews

Video games inspired by TV, movies, board games (AP)

AP - Like so many American creations baseball, comic books, rock 'n' roll the video game is a mongrel art form. Literature, music, art and film all get jumbled together in this relatively new medium, but even that isn't enough: Designers have to figure out how to make the whole package interactive as well.

Apple drops anti-piracy protection

Scrubs Creator Hopes His Show Will Get Better Too

"We were dangerously venturing into an area where everyone was so fake no one would have given a shit when it ended." —Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence on his show's upcoming finale [Ausiello Files/EW]

"I don't think Chris realized he was in a band until 2001. He all of a sudden woke up one day and realized he was in a band. He thought he was just recording my solo project." —Ben Gibbard on the origins of Death Cab for Cutie [A.V. Club]

"I think [the fact] that so many people are wondering along with me definitely puts pressure on my choices!" —Aubrey O'Day may get pressured into bisexuality [MTV]

"Apparently everyone who fought in the Cuban revolution wrote a memoir." —Steven Soderbergh on some of the source materials for Che [A.V. Club]

"I'm done with beefs this year. I'm just gonna become a rapper. I'm just like Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer. I am a rapper." —Jim Jones [MTV]

D.J. Caruso lands 'Killer' gig

Yahoo! News: Fashion News

All About the Hair at the "Bride Wars" Premiere (Fashion Wire Daily)

Fashion Wire Daily - You'd think that at a movie premiere for a flick called "Bride Wars" would be all about the dresses, but in New York on Monday night, it was all about the hair.

Heart-Wrenching Return Home for Travoltas

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost Make Us Slightly Excited for Non-Exciting Spielberg Movie

You know the stock of a comic-book film franchise is low when not even the involvement of both Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson can convince a single studio to finance the $135 million budget on its own. Even so, the just-announced casting of hilarious Brits Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, as detectives ~~Thompson~~ Thomson and Thompson, has made us slightly more excited for Sony and Paramount's upcoming 3-D motion-capture film The Adventures of Tintin. Who cares if the movie's based on a Belgian comic strip from the forties, or if Pegg and Frost probably won't get to kill any zombies or elderly in it! The fact that they're back together again is almost good enough to make us forget How to Lose Friends and Alienate People.

TINTIN Rumors Swirl! We Can Confirm One! [Ain't It Cool News]

Oprah on her battle with weight

RSS feed - channel BNImagesEnter

Annie Readies Album After Island Split

Billboard.com

A street vendor displays the newest illegally produced video games and movies in downtown Belgrade

Lohan and Ronson Still Going Strong

Winehouse to Pay for Norway Drug Charge